Social Structure and Demographics
Social structure is the organized pattern of relationships and institutions that make up society; demographics describe the composition and change of populations. The AAMC outline expects the major theoretical paradigms of sociology, the core social institutions, the concept of culture, systems of stratification, and demographic processes such as the demographic transition and social movements.
Sociological Theories
| Paradigm | Level | Core idea / thinkers |
|---|---|---|
| Functionalism | Macro | Society is a system of interdependent parts serving functions; manifest vs latent functions (Durkheim, Merton) |
| Conflict theory | Macro | Society is competition over scarce resources; power and inequality (Marx) |
| Symbolic interactionism | Micro | Society is built from everyday interactions and shared symbols/meanings (Mead, Blumer) |
| Social constructionism | Micro/macro | Reality (e.g., money, race) is created through social agreement |
| Feminist theory | Macro | Analyzes gender-based inequality and power |
Institutions and Culture
Social institutions are enduring structures that meet basic societal needs: family, education (including the hidden curriculum), religion (Durkheim’s sacred vs profane; secularization), government/economy, and medicine (the medicalization of deviance, sick role). Culture includes material culture (physical objects) and non-material culture (values, beliefs, norms, language, symbols). Norms range from folkways (everyday etiquette) to mores (moral norms) to taboos (strongly prohibited).
Social Stratification
Stratification is the hierarchical ranking of people into social classes. Systems can be open (allow mobility, class-based) or closed (little mobility, caste-based).
- Social mobility
- Intergenerational (change across generations), intragenerational (within one lifetime), vertical vs horizontal.
- Socioeconomic status (SES)
- Combines income, education and occupation; a major social determinant of health.
- Poverty
- Absolute (inability to meet basic needs) vs relative (below society’s standard); social reproduction perpetuates inequality across generations.
- Weber’s dimensions
- Class (economic), status (prestige), party (power).
Demographics and Social Change
Demographic structure is studied through fertility, mortality, migration, age, sex, race/ethnicity and immigration.
- Stage 1 — high birth and death rates; stable, low growth (pre-industrial).
- Stage 2 — death rate falls (better sanitation/medicine); rapid growth.
- Stage 3 — birth rate falls; growth slows.
- Stage 4 — low birth and death rates; stable, aging population.
Related theories: Malthusian theory (population outgrows food supply). Social change is driven by social movements (relative deprivation, resource mobilization theories), urbanization, and globalization.
Worked MCQs
Five MCQs covering the high-yield testing patterns for social structure and demographics.
Q1. A sociologist argues that society functions like an organism with interdependent parts, each serving a purpose. This reflects:
Functionalism (Durkheim) views society as a system of interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability. Conflict theory emphasizes competition and inequality instead.
Q2. A university’s official goal is education, but it also functions as a place where students form romantic relationships. The latter is a:
A latent function is an unintended, often unrecognized consequence of an institution. The intended, recognized function (education) is the manifest function.
Q3. A person born into poverty who becomes a wealthy executive within their lifetime demonstrates:
Intragenerational mobility occurs within a single lifetime; moving up the class hierarchy makes it vertical. Intergenerational mobility compares across generations (parent to child).
Q4. In the demographic transition model, rapid population growth occurs in Stage 2 because:
Stage 2 sees death rates drop due to improved sanitation, food and medicine while birth rates stay high, producing rapid population growth. In Stage 4 both rates are low and stable.
Q5. Norms whose violation triggers strong moral outrage (e.g., incest) are called:
Mores are norms with moral significance; taboos are the most strongly held, whose violation provokes disgust. Folkways are everyday customs whose violation causes only mild disapproval.
Quick Recap
- Paradigms: functionalism (macro), conflict theory (macro/power), symbolic interactionism (micro).
- Manifest (intended) vs latent (unintended) functions.
- Institutions: family, education, religion, government, economy, medicine.
- Culture: material vs non-material; folkways < mores < taboos.
- Stratification: open (class) vs closed (caste); intergenerational vs intragenerational mobility.
- Weber: class, status, party. Poverty: absolute vs relative.
- Demographic transition stages 1–4; Malthusian theory; social movements.