Social Institutions

MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach)

MedSchoolCoach

Science

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we focus on the structure and role of key social institutions for the MCAT Psych/Soc section. We'll break down the five major institutions—health and medicine, education, family, religion, and government—and explain how each shapes societal norms and individual behavior.

You’ll learn about concepts like medicalization, the sick role, and how healthcare is delivered, as well as the hidden curriculum and educational segregation. We’ll also cover family structures, kinship types, and how religion influences social change. Lastly, we’ll touch on political systems and the difference between power and authority, all of which are important for the MCAT.

By the end, you’ll be equipped to understand how these institutions impact society and approach related MCAT questions with confidence.

Visit MedSchoolCoach.com for more help with the MCAT.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Intro

(01:03) Introduction to Social Institutions

(01:54) Definition of Social Institutions

(04:24) Formal vs. Informal Institutions

(05:03) Health and Medicine: Structure and Function

(07:49) Medicalization and the Sick Role

(09:56) Delivery of Healthcare

(12:18) Illness Experience

(13:59) Social Epidemiology

(17:05) Education: Structure and Function

(19:37) Educational Segregation and Stratification

(24:03) Teacher Expectancy

(25:06) Family: Structure and Function

(28:46) Violence in the Family

(29:26) Religion: Structure and Function

(32:25) Religion and Social Change

(35:43) Government and Economy: Structure and Function

(37:11) Power vs. Authority

(38:23) Types of Political Systems

(41:06) Division of Labor

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to MCAT Basics, your ultimate guide to the essential topics you need to master for the MCAT,
0:07.0	brought to you by the physicians at Med School Coach.
0:10.0	Every week, Sam Smith breaks down high-yield MCAT topics, ensuring you're primed for success on test day.
0:17.0	Join Sam as we explore the most crucial subjects outlined by the AAMC, pulled from official practice materials and third-party resources.
0:24.9	Get ready to elevate your MCAT game with topics tailored to maximize your score potential.
0:31.6	Hello, I'm Sam Smith.
0:34.9	The goal of this podcast is to cover the highest yield topics on the MCAT and provide you with some sort of insight into the questions that the MCAT really likes to ask.
0:45.1	This podcast covers social institutions.
0:47.8	I'm going to talk about the big five social institutions.
0:50.9	Health and medicine, education, family, religion, and finally government.
0:56.0	And I'll also say that this episode is pretty information dense. There's going to be a lot of
1:00.4	definitions, a lot of vocab to know, and a lot of examples. Now this information is going to show up
1:06.5	on one of the four MCAT sections that is the psych-souche section.
1:13.5	As always, I hope you find this podcast helpful in your studies,
1:16.2	and good luck to those of you who are taking the MCAT soon.
1:27.9	So as I said, I'm really going to focus on kind of the big five social institutions in this podcast.
1:31.6	But of course, I first wanted to define what a social institution is.
1:36.7	So that way, once I get into those specific examples, you kind of know a little bit more when I'm talking about.
1:41.1	So I'll define institution and then define social institution.
1:47.0	An institution is defined as an organization or other formal structure that governs a field of action. With that said, then, a social institution is defined by Jonathan Turner as, quote,
1:54.1	a complex of positions, roles, norms, and values lodged in particular types of social structures
2:00.5	and organizing relatively stable
	...

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