Sociology the study of society

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the discipline of sociology:

Sociology – the study of society[1] using various methods of empirical investigation[2] and critical analysis[3] to understand human social activity, from the micro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and social structure.[4]

Nature of sociology

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Definition

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Sociology can be described as all of the following:

• The study of society.

• Academic discipline – body of knowledge given to - or received by - a disciple (student); a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, that an individual has chosen to specialise in.

• Field of science – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer reviewed research is published. There are many sociology-related scientific journals.

  • Social science – field of academic scholarship that explores aspects of human society.

Essence of sociology

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Overall

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Sociology

Key themes across sociological research

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• Society

• Globalization

• Human behavior

• Human environmental impact

• Identity

• Industrial revolutions 3 & 4

• Social complexity

• Social environment

• Social equality

• Social equity

• Social power

• Social stratification

• Social structure

Branches of sociology

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See also: Category:Subfields of sociology

• Sociology of architecture

• Sociology of art

• Sociology of autism

• Sociology of the body

• Sociology of culture

• Sociology of death

• Sociology of deviance

• Sociology of disaster

• Sociology of education

• Economic sociology

• Sociology of emotions

• Environmental sociology

• Feminist sociology

• Sociology of the family

• Sociology of food

• Sociology of gender

• Sociology of generations

• Sociology of health and illness

• Sociology of human consciousness

• Humanistic sociology

• Sociology of immigration

• Industrial sociology

• Sociology of the Internet

• Jealousy sociology

• Sociology of Jewry

• Sociology of knowledge

• Sociology of language

• Sociology of law

• Sociology of leisure

• Sociology of literature

• Marxist sociology

• Mathematical sociology

• Medical sociology

• Military sociology

• Sociology of music

• Real utopian sociology

• Sociology of peace, war, and social conflict

• Sociology of philosophy

• Social psychology (sociology)

• Public sociology

• Sociology of punishment

• Sociology of race and ethnic relations

• Sociology of religion

• Sociology of scientific knowledge (Sociology of the history of science)

• Sociology of sociology

• Sociology of space

• Sociology of sport

• Sociology of terrorism

• Urban sociology

• Visual sociology

Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fields involving sociology

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See also: Category:Interdisciplinary subfields of sociology

• Agnotology

• Anthrozoology

• Area studies

• Astrosociology

• Behavioral economics

• Communication studies

• Community informatics

• Critical management studies

• Cultural studies

• Demography

• Development studies

• Development theory

• Disability studies

• Environmental studies

• Food studies

• Futures studies

• Gender studies

• Geodemography

• Global studies

• Gerontology

• Historical sociology

• Human ecology

• Internet studies

• Leisure studies

• Political ecology

• Political sociology

• Organizational studies

• Science studies

• Science, technology and society

• Social architecture

• Social construction of technology

• Social engineering

• Social epistemology

• Social geography

• Social informatics

• Social philosophy

• Social studies of finance

• Sociobiology

• Sociocybernetics

• Sociolinguistics

• Sociomusicology

• Technology and society

• Urban studies

• Victimology

• World-systems theory

History of sociology

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See also: Category:History of sociology

• History of sociology

• Timeline of sociology

• Timeline of sociology (1810s)

• Timeline of sociology (1820s)

• Timeline of sociology (1830s)

• Timeline of sociology (1840s)

• Timeline of sociology (1850s)

• Timeline of sociology (1860s)

• Timeline of sociology (1870s)

• Timeline of sociology (1880s)

• Timeline of sociology (1890s)

• Timeline of sociology (1900s)

• Timeline of sociology (1910s)

• Timeline of sociology (1920s)

• Timeline of sociology (1930s)

• Timeline of sociology (1940s)

• Timeline of sociology (1950s)

• Timeline of sociology (1960s)

• Timeline of sociology (1970s)

• Timeline of sociology (1980s)

• Timeline of sociology (1990s)

• Timeline of sociology (2000s)

Theoretical perspectives in sociology

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See also: Category:Sociological theories

Approaches

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Positivism

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• Positivism (Empirical sociology)

• Analytical sociology

• Computational sociology

• Logical positivism

• Rational choice theory

Critical realist

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• Critical realism

• Relational sociology

• Subtle realism

Structural

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• Structuralism

• Organizational theory

• Sociocultural evolution

• Structural functionalism

• Systems theory

• World-systems theory

Challenging structure

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• Postmodernism

• Poststructuralism

• Social constructionism

Social interactions

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• Dramaturgy (sociology)

• Ethnomethodology

• Figurational sociology

• Phenomenology (sociology)

• Symbolic interactionism

Behavioural

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• Psychoanalytic sociology

• Social exchange theory

Social justice

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• Critical theory

• Conflict theories

• Feminist theory

• Intersectionality

• Marxism (Marxist sociology - Social conflict theory)

• Postcolonialism & subaltern theory

• Queer theory

Applied

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• Pure sociology

• Policy sociology

Ecological

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• Human ecology

Levels of analysis

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• Macrosociology

• Mesosociology

• Microsociology

Methodology and methods in sociology

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See also: Category:Methods in sociology

• Comparative sociology

• Content analysis

• Discourse analysis

• Ethnomethodology

• Sociography

• Sociomapping

• Sociometry

• Social experiment

General sociology concepts

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See also the categories Sociological terminology and Social concepts

• Attitude

• Alienation

• Beliefs

• Bureaucracy

• Collective behavior

• Civil inattention

• Civil rights

• Crime

• Commodity fetishism

• Community (outline)

• Consumption (consumerism)

• Cultural capital

• Culture (outline)

• Discrimination

• Division of labour

• Equality (Social inequality)

• Equity

• Exploitation

• Family

• Freedom

• Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft

• Globalization

• Group

• Ideal type

• Identity

• Ideology

• Industrialization

• Inequality

• Institution

• Interpersonal relationship (outline)

• Justice

• Lifestyle

• Mass media

• Modernity

• Nature versus nurture

• Organization

• Organizational behavior

• Paradigm shift

• Political economy

• Popular culture

• Postmodernity

• Poverty

• Power

• Power-knowledge

• Racism

• Rationalisation

• Reflexivity

• Religion

• Secularisation

• Sexism

• Social action

• Social capital

• Social change

• Social class

• Social complexity

• Social conflict

• Social construction

• Social cohesion

• Social control

• Social criticism

• Social environment

• Social evolutionism

• Social justice

• Social media

• Social mobility

• Social movement

• Social norm

• Social network

• Social order

• Social organisation

• Social problems

• Social solidarity

• Social status

• Social stratification

• Social structure

• Social system

• Social theory

• Socialization

• Society (outline)

• Structure and agency

• Sustainable development

• Values

• World view

Sociology by location

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• Sociology in China

• Sociology in Japan

• Sociology in Poland

• Sociology in Russia

• Sociology in Turkey

Sociologists

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• List of sociologists

Sociological publications

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Sociology journalsMagazines

• Contexts

• MANAS Journal

• Polemic

• Salmagundi

• Youth Studies Australia

Sociology books

Sociological associations

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Sociological associations

Academies

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• College of Sociology, Paris, 1937–39

• New School for Social Research, New York

• Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, Chicago

• Uzhhorod National University Department of Sociology and Social Work, Uzhhorod

• Atlanta Sociological Laboratory, Atlanta, 1895–1924[5]

Related fields

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• Global studies

• Law

• Political science

• Social anthropology/Cultural anthropology

• Social history

• Socioeconomics

• Sociolinguistics

• Social research

See also

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• Bibliography of sociology

• Engaged theory

• History of the social sciences

• Index of sociology articles

• Index of sociology of food articles

• Index of urban sociology articles

• Outline of organizational theory

• Outline of science