ABC's OF Sociology

Sociology

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For the journal, see Sociology (journal).

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
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Sociology is the academic study of social behavior, its origins, development, organization, and institutions.^[1] It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation^[2] and critical analysis^[3] 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.^[4]
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.^[5][6]
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.