Essay about What is sociology

Submitted By lincolnm7
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What is sociology

Sociology is the study of society and how it is influenced by difference factors like economic. In other words it is the study of human social life, groups and societies. Sociology is the study of group life and those parts of our individual lives that are affected by social interaction. Its beginning point is the assumption that we are social animals from birth, that is, that we are powerfully influenced by other people's expectations. Sociologists would argue that you can't make sense of your own behaviour, much less the patterns of behaviour in families, corporations, or nations, without developing a quality of mind which sociologist C. Wright Mills termed "the sociological imagination.
Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the state, from the divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social stability to radical change in whole societies. Unifying the study of these diverse subjects of study is sociology’s purpose of understanding how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures.
Sociology analyzes and explains important matters in our personal lives, our communities, and the world. At the personal level, sociology investigates the social causes and consequences of such things as romantic love, racial and gender identity, family conflict, behaviour, aging, and religious faith. It examines and explains matters like crime and law, poverty and wealth, prejudice and discrimination, schools and education, business firms, urban community, and social movements. At the global level, sociology studies things such as population growth and migration, war and peace, and economic development.
Sociologists emphasize the careful gathering and analysis of evidence about social life to develop and enrich our understanding of key social processes. Sociologists observe the everyday life of groups, conduct large-scale surveys, interpret historical documents, analyze census data, study video-taped interactions, interview participants of groups, and conduct laboratory experiments. The research methods and theories of sociology yield powerful insights into the social processes shaping human lives and social problems and prospects in the contemporary world. By better understanding those social processes, we also come to understand more clearly the forces shaping the personal