What is Sociology?
What is Sociology? "Scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious. Sociologists study such areas as bureaucracy, community, deviant behavior, family, public opinion, social change, social mobility, social stratification, and such specific problems as crime, divorce, child abuse, and substance addiction. Sociology tries to determine the laws governing human behavior in social contexts; it is sometimes distinguished as a general social science from the special social sciences, such as economics and political science, which confine themselves to a selected group of social facts or relations."
- Criminology: Topic Page
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The study of crime, society's response to it, and its prevention, including examination of the environmental, hereditary, or psychological causes of crime, modes of criminal investigation and conviction, and the efficacy of punishment or correction (see prison) as compared with forms of treatment or rehabilitation. - Economic Sociology
From World of Sociology
Economic sociology is concerned with the relationship between the economic and non-economic characteristics of social life. Closely tied to the histories of both economics and sociology, socioeconomics can be interpreted differently, depending on the balance between economic theory and social theory. -
From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
School ethnographies provided descriptions of the social systems of schools, and attention to the significance of pupil-teacher interactions for educational attainment. -
From World of Sociology, Gale
The sociology of work was driven by the desire to understand the many social changes, including poverty, crime, and clashing cultural differences mong immigrant populations, occurring during this time of rapid industrialization and growth of monopoly capital. - Phenomenological Sociology
From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
This is a type of sociology derived from phenomenological philosophy. It takes as its main aim the analysis and description of everyday life. - Political Sociology
From World of Sociology, Gale
Political sociology refers to the branch of sociology concerned with the distribution of power in society. Whereas political scientists generally focus on political institutions and processes, political sociologists do not a priori assume that institutions themselves hold causal primacy. -
From Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems
Rural sociology is the systematic study of the social organization of rural societies. The discipline of rural sociology was formalized as part of the American land grant university system in the early twentieth century. - Sociobiology
From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
The study of the biological and evolutionary base of social behaviour. - Sociolinguistics
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns. - Social Psychology
From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
Social psychology continues to straddle the border between sociology and psychology. However, despite a number of theoretical concerns in common, sociological social psychology and psychological social psychology remain largely independent endeavors. - Urban Sociology
From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
The study of social relationships and structures in the city.
- Environmental Sociology
From World of Sociology, Gale
Environmental sociology is the study of the intricate relationship between natural environmental and human societies. -
Sociology of Sports and Leisure
From World of Sociology, Gale
Sociology of Sport is both a context for understanding basic sociological principles and a fertile field for study. Its focus includes, but is not limited to, history of sports, adaptation, aging and sports, athletes’ rights, coaching, culture, disability issues, drugs, economics of athletics, ethics, fans/spectators, feminism, gambling, gay games, hegemonic ideals, international sports, media coverage, politics and sports, socialization, as subcultures, Title IX, violence, and youth sports. -
Military Sociology
From World of Sociology, Gale
Military sociology is primarily concerned with the ideologies, structures, policies, actions, and interpersonal relationships that constitute the armed forces and how these interact with civilian society. -
Medical Sociology
From World of Sociology, Gale
Medical Sociology is a sub-field within sociology that examines the social organization of medicine and the impact of social activity and circumstances on health and illness. -
Sociology of food and eating
From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
The economic, social, and symbolic significance of food is a highly complex interdisciplinary topic of study which sociology, understandably, has addressed in only some aspects, and then unevenly. -
Sociology of Emotions
From World of Sociology, Gale
The sociology of emotions typically examines how individuals’ emotional experience may be both the cause and effect of social behavior.
- Anthropology: Topic Page
The study of humankind. It investigates the cultural, social, and physical diversity of the human species, both past and present.
- Economics: Topic Page
Study of how human beings allocate scarce resources to produce various commodities and how those commodities are distributed for consumption among the people in society.
- Political Science: Topic Page
Political science studies the distribution of power in different polities; the sources of power; how, when, and by whom it is exercised; as well as who gains and who loses in power struggles.
- Psychology: Topic Page
Science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment. Psychologists study processes of sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivations, personality, abnormal behavior, interactions between individuals, and interactions with the environment.
- Social Studies: Topic Page
The primary goal of social studies curriculum is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to become active participants in society.