Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 2

Long, indirect greetings make sense in a society where relationships come before business.

Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 3

Segregation is the spatial or social separation of groups, while integration is the mixing of groups on equal terms.

Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 4

Relative deprivation: health depends on one's position compared with others, not only on meeting a fixed minimum standard.

Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 5

Occupational sorting and hours account for much of the gap, but a smaller gap remains within comparable jobs, consistent with discrimination.

MCAT · Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior · Sociology

Culture, demographics and social inequality

Culture, demographics and social inequality is part of Sociology in the MCAT Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section. The questions below are written in the style of the real test, each with the answer and a worked explanation.

Question types you will see here include demographic transition and population pyramids, migration, urbanisation and gentrification, intersectionality and compounding disadvantage and segregation and place-based inequality.

Common traps: confusing stage 2 with stage 3; mixing crude rates with total fertility; reading a wide base as high life expectancy.

Sample questions

Question 1
In a country with low infant and child mortality, which total fertility rate is closest to replacement level?
- A.
  About 2.1 children per woman
- B.
  About 1.0 child per woman
- C.
  About 3.5 children per woman
- D.
  About 5.0 children per woman
Answer: A. About 2.1 children per woman
Replacement-level fertility is about 2.1 children per woman in low-mortality populations: two children replace the parents, and the small additional amount offsets deaths before reproductive age. A rate of about 1.0 is far below replacement and would lead to population decline over time.
Question 2
Which comment reflects cultural relativism rather than ethnocentrism?
- A.
  Their long, indirect greetings are inefficient compared with our direct way of doing business.
- B.
  Our table manners are simply the natural standard of politeness for everybody.
- C.
  Long, indirect greetings make sense in a society where relationships come before business.
- D.
  They should adopt our shorter greetings if they want to modernise.
Answer: C. Long, indirect greetings make sense in a society where relationships come before business.
Judging a practice within its own context is cultural relativism (C). Judging another group by one's own standards, calling them inefficient (A), natural (B) or needing to modernise (D), is ethnocentrism.
Question 3
Which statement correctly distinguishes residential segregation from integration?
- A.
  Segregation means different groups mixing on equal terms, while integration means their separation into different places.
- B.
  Segregation always results from law, while integration always results from individual choice.
- C.
  Integration means that one group gives up its own culture to join another.
- D.
  Segregation is the spatial or social separation of groups, while integration is the mixing of groups on equal terms.
Answer: D. Segregation is the spatial or social separation of groups, while integration is the mixing of groups on equal terms.
Segregation is the separation of groups into different places or social settings, and integration is the mixing of groups on equal terms (D). A reverses the terms. Segregation can arise from policy, markets or both (B). Giving up one’s culture describes assimilation, not integration (C).
Question 4
In a wealthy country, adults earning 45% of the median income, with adequate food, housing and heating, report worse health and more depressive symptoms than adults earning 90% of the median. Which concept best explains the pattern?
- A.
  Absolute poverty: health suffers only when income cannot cover basic survival needs.
- B.
  The feminisation of poverty: women make up a rising share of the poor.
- C.
  Relative deprivation: health depends on one's position compared with others, not only on meeting a fixed minimum standard.
- D.
  Structural mobility: changes in the economy alter occupational opportunities.
Answer: C. Relative deprivation: health depends on one's position compared with others, not only on meeting a fixed minimum standard.
These adults meet basic needs yet fare worse than those higher on the income scale, which points to relative position: C. A fails because their basic needs are met; B concerns the gender composition of poverty, not the gradient; D concerns movement between occupations.
Question 5
Across a country, women's median hourly pay is 82% of men's. Among women and men in the same occupation with the same hours and experience, it is 94%. Which interpretation is best supported?
- A.
  Occupational sorting and hours account for much of the gap, but a smaller gap remains within comparable jobs, consistent with discrimination.
- B.
  The gap disappears within occupations, so discrimination plays no role.
- C.
  Occupational segregation is entirely a matter of individual choice, so the gap reflects no structural influence at all in hiring, promotion or the way jobs are valued.
- D.
  The whole 18-point gap reflects unequal pay for identical work.
Answer: A. Occupational sorting and hours account for much of the gap, but a smaller gap remains within comparable jobs, consistent with discrimination.
A is right: the gap narrows from 18 points to 6 for comparable jobs but does not vanish. B is wrong because 94% is not 100%. C claims segregation is purely individual choice, which the data cannot show. D ignores that most of the gap falls once jobs and hours are matched.

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