Day 155 MCAT Practice Question

Social capital refers to the various resources that allow one to

achieve, maintain, or advance their social standing, and can include a variety of

things including education, network connections, cultural knowledge, and more.

In general, those who are members of majority groups in society have greater

amounts of social capital, whereas those who are members of minority groups in

society have lower amounts of social capital. Being fluent in the dominant language

of a society itself is a form of social capital, as it allows one to freely engage with

a large number of people in a particular country. Furthermore, those who speak a

non-dominant language (e.g., in America, a non-English language) are more likely to

have less access to social resources, educational opportunities, and other elements

of social capital that promote an advanced social standing. For this reason, those

who speak a non-dominant language (e.g. speaking Spanish in an English-speaking

country) tend to have decreased social capital overall. Decreased social capital is

thus positively correlated with speaking a non-dominant language, insofar as they

tend to occur together and the less dominant one’s language of choice is, the lower

social capital one is likely to possess. For this reason, Answer D is correct.