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Sociology
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Sociology
Outline
History
Theory
Positivism
Antipositivism
Functionalism
Conflict theories
Middle-range
Mathematical
Critical theory
Social constructionism
Structuralism
Interactionism
Methods
Quantitative
Qualitative
Historical
Computational
Conversation analysis
Ethnography
Ethnomethodology
Network analysis
Subfields
Conflict
Criminology
Culture
Development
Deviance
Demography
Education
Economic
Environment
Family
Gender
Health
Industrial
Inequality
Knowledge
Law
Literature
Medical
Military
Organizational
Political
Race and ethnicity
Religion
Rural
Science
Social change
Social movements
Social psychology
Stratification
Technology
Urban
Browse
Portal
People
Organizations
Journals
Index
Timeline
WikiProject
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Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior, its origins, development, organization and institutions. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, social disorder and social change. A goal for many sociologists is to conduct research which may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the micro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure.The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as health, medical, military and penal institutions, the Internet, education, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.The range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches to the analysis of society. Conversely, recent decades have seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis.Social research informs politicians and policy makers, educators, planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business magnates, managers, social workers, non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, and people interested in resolving social issues in general. There is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and other statistical fields.
^ sociology. (n.d.). The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Retrieved July 13, 2013, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sociology
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