Ẹ wo àmì-ọ̀rọ̀ fún Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ

{{translate}}
{{Sociology}}
<font face="Tahoma">
'''Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀awùjọ''' ni àgbéwòkà onísáyẹ́nsì [[àwùjọ]].<ref>"Comte, Auguste, A Dictionary of Sociology (3rd Ed), John Scott & Gordon Marshall (eds), Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-860986-8, ISBN 978-0-19-860986-5</ref> Ó jẹ́ [[social science|sáyẹ́nsì àwùjọ]] (a term with which it is sometimes synonymous) tó únlo oríṣi ọ̀nà ìwádìí oníìrírí<ref name="Classical Statements8"/> and critical analysis<ref name="Classical Statements4"/> láti ṣàgbédìde àpapọ̀ ìmọ̀ nípa àgbéṣe àwùjọ ọmọnìyàn. Fún ọ̀pọ̀ àwọn aṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ èrò iṣẹ́ wọn ni láti ṣe ìwadìí tí yíò ṣe é múlò tààrà sí [[social policy|ètòìlú àwùjọ]] àti ìtọ́jú, nígbàtí àwọn míràn dá ṣẹ́ wọn lórí ìtúnṣe ìlóye aláròjinlẹ̀ àwọn àgbéṣe àwùjọ. Orí-ọ̀rọ̀ ṣegbàjá láti orí-pele [[microsociology|oníkékeré]] [[agency (sociology)|ìṣàgbéṣe]] ẹnìkọ̀kan àti ìbáṣepọ̀ dé orí-pele [[macrosociology|onígbàngbà]] àwọn sístẹ́mù àti [[social structure|ìpele àwùjọ]].<ref name="Giddens Intro"/>

Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ ti úndálórí [[social stratification|ìtòlẹ́se àwùjọ]], [[social class|àtòsọ́tọ̀ àwùjọ]], [[àṣà]], [[social mobility|ìyípòpadà àwùjọ]], [[sociology of religion|ẹ̀sìn]], [[secularisation|ìsọditaráayé]], [[Sociology of law|òfin]], àti [[deviance (sociology)|ìyájú]]. Gbogbo àyíká àgbéṣe ọmọnìyàn jẹ́ nínípa lórí látọwọ́ ìṣepapọ̀ láàrin [[structure and agency|ìpele àwùjọ àti ìṣàgbéṣe ẹnìkọ̀kan]], Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀awùjọ ti fẹ̀ díẹ̀díẹ̀ dé orí-ọ̀rọ̀ bíi [[institutions|àdìmúlẹ̀]] [[sociology of health|ìlera]], [[medical sociology|oníwòsàn]], [[military sociology|ológun]] àti [[sociology of punishment|ìjẹníyà]] , [[sociology of the Internet|Internet]], bẹ́ẹ̀sìni iṣẹ́ àgbéṣe àwùjọ nínú ìdàgbàsókè [[sociology of scientific knowledge|ìmọ̀ sáyẹ́nsì]].

Gbàjá àwọn ọ̀nà sáyẹ́nsì àwùjọ náà tún ti fẹ̀ si. [[Social research|Àwọn aṣèwadìí àwùjọ]] únlo oríṣi ọ̀nà [[qualitative research|ìdárasí]] àti [[quantitative research|ìpòsí]]. Àwọn [[linguistic turn|linguistic]] and [[cultural turn]]s of the mid-twentieth century led to increasingly [[verstehen|interpretative]], [[hermeneutic]], and [[philosophic]] approaches to the analysis of society. Conversely, recent decades have seen the rise of new [[analytical sociology|analytically]], [[Mathematical sociology|mathematically]] and [[computational sociology|computationally]] rigorous techniques, such as [[agent-based model]]ling and [[social network|social network analysis]].<ref name="From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling"/><ref name="Computational Social Science"/> Sociology should not be confused with various general [[social studies]] courses which bear little relation to sociological theory or social science research methodology.

==Ìtàn==
{{Main|Ìtàn ìṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ|Àtọ̀jọ àwọn aṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ|Timeline of sociology}}

===Ìbẹ̀rẹ̀===
[[File:Ibn_Khaldoun-Kassus.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[Ibn Khaldun]] (1332-1406)]]
Sociological reasoning predates the foundation of the discipline. Social analysis has origins in the common stock of [[Western culture|Western knowledge]] and [[philosophy]], and has been carried out from at least as early as the time of [[Plato]]. The origin of the [[Statistical survey|survey]], i.e., the collection of information from a sample of individuals, can be traced back at least early as the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086,<ref>A. H. Halsey(2004),''A history of sociology in Britain: science, literature, and society'',p.34</ref><ref>Geoffrey Duncan Mitchell(1970),''A new dictionary of sociology'',p.201</ref> while ancient philosophers such as [[Confucius]] wrote on the importance of social roles. There is evidence of early sociology in medieval Islam. Some consider [[Ibn Khaldun]], a 14th century [[Arab]] [[Islamic]] scholar from North Africa, to have been the first sociologist; his ''[[Muqaddimah]]'' was perhaps the first work to advance social-scientific reasoning on [[social cohesion]] and [[social conflict]].
<ref name="Akhtar"/>
<ref name="Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists"/>
<ref name="Enan"/>
<ref name="The Autonomous, the Universal and the Future of Sociology"/>
<ref name="Gates"/>
<ref name="Mowlana"/>

The word ''[[wiktionary:sociology|sociology]]'' (or ''"sociologie"'') is derived from both Latin and Greek origins. The [[Latin]] word: ''[[wiktionary:socius|socius]]'', "companion"; ''-ology'', "the study of", and in [[Greek language|Greek]] [[wiktionary:λόγος|λόγος]], ''lógos'', "word", "knowledge". It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist [[Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès]] (1748–1836) in an unpublished [[manuscript]].<ref>''Des Manuscrits de Sieyès. 1773–1799'', Volumes I and II, published by Christine Fauré, Jacques Guilhaumou, Jacques Vallier et Françoise Weil, Paris, Champion, 1999 and 2007. See also Christine Fauré and Jacques Guilhaumou, ''Sieyès et le non-dit de la sociologie: du mot à la chose'', in ''Revue d'histoire des sciences humaines'', Numéro 15, novembre 2006: Naissances de la science sociale. See also the article [[:fr:sociologie|'sociologie']] in the French-language Wikipedia.</ref> Sociology was later defined independently by the French [[philosopher of science]], [[Auguste Comte]] (1798–1857), in 1838.<ref>''A Dictionary of Sociology'', Article: Comte, Auguste</ref> Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society.<ref>Macionis, Gerber,  John, Linda (2010). Sociology 7th Canadian Ed. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Canada Inc.. pp. 10.</ref> Comte had earlier used the term "social physics", but that had subsequently been appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician [[Adolphe Quetelet]]. Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm. Writing shortly after the malaise of the [[French Revolution]], he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological [[positivism]], an epistemological approach outlined in ''[[The Course in Positive Philosophy]]'' [1830–1842] and ''[[A General View of Positivism]]'' (1848). Comte believed a [[Law of three stages|positivist stage]] would mark the final era, after conjectural [[theological]] and [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] phases, in the progression of human understanding.<ref name="comte"/> In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and having classified the sciences, Comte may be regarded as the first [[philosopher of science]] in the modern sense of the term.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/ |title=Stanford Encyclopaedia: Auguste Comte |publisher=Plato.Stanford.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref>

[[File:Auguste Comte.jpg|thumb|right|[[Auguste Comte]] (1798-1857)]]
{{Quotation|Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus which bore fruit in the later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is certainly not to claim that French sociologists such as [[Durkheim]] were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. But by insisting on the irreducibility of each of his basic sciences to the particular science of sciences which it presupposed in the hierarchy and by emphasizing the nature of sociology as the scientific study of social phenomena Comte put sociology on the map. To be sure, [its] beginnings can be traced back well beyond [[Montesquieu]], for example, and to [[Condorcet]], not to speak of [[Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]], Comte's immediate predecessor. But Comte's clear recognition of sociology as a particular science, with a character of its own, justified Durkheim in regarding him as the father or founder of this science, in spite of the fact that Durkheim did not accept the idea of the three states and criticized Comte's approach to sociology.|[[Frederick Copleston]] ''A History of Philosophy: IX Modern Philosophy'' 1974|<ref>Copleson, Frederick S.J. [1974] ''A History of Philosophy: IX Modern Philosophy'' (1994). Image Books, New York. pp118</ref>}}
[[File:Karl Marx.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Karl Marx]] (1818-1883)]]
Both [[Auguste Comte]] and [[Karl Marx]] set out to develop scientifically justified systems in the wake of European [[industrialization]] and [[secularization]], informed by various key movements in the [[philosophy of history|philosophies of history]] [[philosophy of science|and science]]. Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a ''science of society'' nevertheless came to be recognized as a founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For [[Isaiah Berlin]], Marx may be regarded as the "true father" of modern sociology, "in so far as anyone can claim the title."<ref>Berlin, Isaiah. 1967. ''Karl Marx: His Life and Environment''. Time Inc Book Division, New York. pp130</ref>

{{Quotation|To have given clear and unified answers in familiar empirical terms to those theoretical questions which most occupied men's minds at the time, and to have deduced from them clear practical directives without creating obviously artificial links between the two, was the principle achievement of Marx's theory. The sociological treatment of historical and moral problems, which Comte and after him, [[Herbert Spencer|Spencer]] and [[Hippolyte Taine|Taine]], had discussed and mapped, became a precise and concrete study only when the attack of militant Marxism made its conclusions a burning issue, and so made the search for evidence more zealous and the attention to method more intense.|[[Isaiah Berlin]] ''Karl Marx: His Life and Environment'' 1937|<ref>Berlin, Isaiah. [1937] ''Karl Marx: His Life and Environment''. 3rd edition (1967). Time Inc Book Division, New York. pp13-14</ref>}}

[[File:Herbert Spencer.jpg|upright|thumb|150px|[[Herbert Spencer]] (1820-1903)]]
[[Herbert Spencer]] (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was one of the most popular and influential 19th century sociologists. It is estimated that he sold one million books in his lifetime, far more than any other sociologist at the time. So strong was his influence that many other 19th century thinkers, including [[Émile Durkheim]], defined their ideas in relation to his. Durkheim’s ''[[Division of Labour in Society]]'' is to a large extent an extended debate with Spencer from whose sociology, many commentators now agree, Durkheim borrowed extensively.<ref name="Émile Durkheim's Division of Labor and the Shadow of Herbert Spencer"/> Also a notable [[biologist]], Spencer coined the term "[[survival of the fittest]]". Whilst Marxian ideas defined one strand of sociology, Spencer was a critic of socialism as well as strong advocate for a [[laissez-faire]] style of government. His ideas were highly observed by conservative political circles, especially in the United States and England.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

===Foundations of the academic discipline===
{{Main|Emile Durkheim|Social facts}}
[[File:Emile Durkheim.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Émile Durkheim]]]]
Formal academic sociology was established by Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as a foundation to practical [[social research]]. While Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisting that they may retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality.<ref name="Wacquant"/> Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the [[University of Bordeaux]] in 1895, publishing his ''[[Rules of the Sociological Method]]'' (1895).<ref name="autogenerated2000">Gianfranco Poggi (2000). ''Durkheim.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> For Durkheim, sociology could be described as the "science of [[institution]]s, their genesis and their functioning".<ref>Durkheim, Émile [1895] "The Rules of Sociological Method" 8th edition, trans. Sarah A. Solovay and John M. Mueller, ed. George E. G. Catlin (1938, 1964 edition), pp. 45</ref>

Durkheim's seminal monograph, ''[[Suicide (book)|Suicide]]'' (1897), a case study of suicide rates amongst [[Catholic]] and [[Protestant]] populations, distinguished sociological analysis from [[psychology]] or philosophy. It also marked a major contribution to the theoretical concept of [[structural functionalism]]. By carefully examining suicide statistics in different police districts, he attempted to demonstrate that Catholic communities have a lower suicide rate than that of Protestants, something he attributed to social (as opposed to individual or [[psychological]]) causes. He developed the notion of objective ''suis generis'' "social facts" to delineate a unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study.<ref name="Wacquant"/> Through such studies he posited that sociology would be able to determine whether any given society is 'healthy' or 'pathological', and seek social reform to negate organic breakdown or "social [[anomie]]".

Sociology quickly evolved as an academic response to the perceived challenges of [[modernity]], such as [[industrialization]], [[urbanization]], [[secularization]], and the process of "[[rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]]".<ref>Habermas, Jürgen, ''The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Modernity's Consciousness of Time'', Polity Press (1985), paperback, ISBN 0-7456-0830-2, p2</ref> The field predominated in [[continental Europe]], with British [[anthropology]] and [[statistics]] generally following on a separate trajectory. By the turn of the 20th century, however, many theorists were active in the [[Anglo-Saxon world]]. Few early sociologists were confined strictly to the subject, interacting also with [[economics]], [[jurisprudence]], psychology and [[philosophy]], with theories being appropriated in a variety of different fields. Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of inquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged.<ref name="Giddens Intro"/>

Durkheim, Marx, and the German theorist [[Max Weber]] are typically cited as the three principal architects of social science.<ref name="Max Weber – Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy"/> [[Herbert Spencer]], [[William Graham Sumner]], [[Lester F. Ward]], [[Vilfredo Pareto]], [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], [[Werner Sombart]], [[Thorstein Veblen]], [[Ferdinand Tönnies]], [[Georg Simmel]] and [[Karl Mannheim]] are occasionally included on academic curricula as founding theorists. Each key figure is associated with a particular theoretical perspective and orientation.<ref name="transformation325"/>

{{Quotation|Marx and Engels associated the emergence of modern society above all with the development of capitalism; for Durkheim it was connected in particular with industrialization and the new social division of labor which this brought about; for Weber it had to do with the emergence of a distinctive way of thinking, the rational calculation which he associated with the Protestant Ethic (more or less what Marx and Engels speak of in terms of those 'icy waves of egotistical calculation'). Together the works of these great classical sociologists suggest what Giddens has recently described as 'a multidimensional view of institutions of modernity' and which emphasizes not only capitalism and industrialism as key institutions of modernity, but also 'surveillance' (meaning 'control of information and social supervision') and 'military power' (control of the means of violence in the context of the industrialization of war).|John Harriss ''The Second Great Transformation? Capitalism at the End of the Twentieth Century'' 1992|<ref name="transformation325"/>}}

===Other developments===
[[File:Ferdinand Toennies Bueste Husum-Ausschnitt.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Ferdinand Tönnies]]' [[bust (sculpture)|bust]] in [[Husum]], Germany]]
The first college course entitled "Sociology" was taught in the United States at [[Yale]] in 1875 by [[William Graham Sumner]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Sociology.html |title=Sociology – History of Sociology &#124; Encyclopedia.com: Oxford Companion to United States History |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |date= |accessdate=2010-01-05}}</ref> In 1883 [[Lester F. Ward]], the first president of the American Sociological Association, published ''Dynamic Sociology—Or Applied social science as based upon statical sociology and the less complex sciences'' and attacked the laissez-faire sociology of [[Herbert Spencer]] and Sumner.<ref name="books.google.com"/> Ward's 1200 page book was used as core material in many early American sociology courses. In 1890, the oldest continuing American course in the modern tradition began at the [[University of Kansas]], lectured by [[Frank W. Blackmar]].<ref name="University of Kansas Sociology Department Webpage"/> The Department of Sociology at the [[University of Chicago]] was established in 1892 by [[Albion Woodbury Small|Albion Small]], who also published the first sociology textbook: An introduction to the study of society 1894.<ref name="uchicago1970"/> [[George Herbert Mead]] and [[Charles Cooley]], who had met at the [[University of Michigan]] in 1891 (along with [[John Dewey]]), would move to Chicago in 1894.<ref>Miller, David (2009). George Herbert Mead: Self, Language, and the World. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-72700-3.</ref> Their influence gave rise to [[social psychology]] and the [[symbolic interactionism]] of the modern [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago School]].<ref>1930: The Development of Sociology at Michigan. pp.3–14 in Sociological Theory and Research, being Selected papers of Charles Horton Cooley, edited by Robert Cooley Angell, New York: Henry Holt</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Sociology]]'' was founded in 1895, followed by the ''[[American Sociological Association]]'' (ASA) in 1905.<ref name="uchicago1970"/> The sociological "canon of classics" with Durkheim and [[Max Weber]] at the top owes in part to [[Talcott Parsons]], who is largely credited with introducing both to American audiences.<ref name="camic"/> Parsons consolidated the sociological tradition and set the agenda for American sociology at the point of its fastest disciplinary growth. Sociology in the United States was less historically influenced by [[Marxism]] than its European counterpart, and to this day broadly remains more statistical in its approach.<ref>Morrison, Ken. 2006 (2nd ed.) "Marx, Durkheim, Weber", Sage, pp. 1–7</ref>

The first sociology department to be established in the United Kingdom was at the [[London School of Economics|London School of Economics and Political Science]] (home of the ''[[British Journal of Sociology]]'') in 1904.<ref name="British Journal of Sociology Website"/> [[Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse]] became a lecturer in the discipline at the [[University of London]] in 1907.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/leonard-trelawny-hobhouse/ |title=Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse |publisher=Bookrags |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref> [[Harriet Martineau]], an English translator of Comte, has been cited as the first female sociologist.<ref>Hill, Michael R. (2002) "Harriet Martineau: theoretical and methodological perspectives" Routledge. ISBN 0-415-94528-3</ref> In 1909 the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie'' ([[German Sociological Association]]) was founded by [[Ferdinand Tönnies]] and Max Weber, among others. Weber established the first department in Germany at the [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] in 1919, having presented an influential new [[antipositivist]] sociology.<ref name="Bendix1"/> In 1920, [[Florian Znaniecki]] set up the first department [[Sociology in Poland|in Poland]]. The ''[[Institute for Social Research]]'' at the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] (later to become the [[Frankfurt School]] of [[critical theory]]) was founded in 1923.<ref name="britannica"/> International co-operation in sociology began in 1893, when [[René Worms]] founded the ''[[:fr:René Worms|Institut International de Sociologie]]'', an institution later eclipsed by the much larger [[International Sociological Association]] (ISA), founded in 1949.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isa-sociology.org/ |title=International Sociological Association Website |publisher=Isa-sociology.org |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref>

==Positivism and Anti-positivism==
===Positivism===
{{Main|Positivism}}
The overarching [[methodology|methodological]] principle of [[positivism]] is to conduct sociology in broadly the same manner as [[natural science]]. An emphasis on [[empiricism]] and the [[scientific method]] is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only arrive by positive affirmation through scientific methodology.

{{quotation|"Our main goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human conduct... What has been called our positivism is but a consequence of this rationalism."|[[Émile Durkheim]], ''The Rules of Sociological Method'' (1895)|<ref name="DinW"/>}}

The term has long since ceased to carry this meaning; there are no fewer than twelve distinct epistemologies that are referred to as positivism.<ref name="Wacquant"/><ref name="Halfpenny"/> Many of these approaches do not self-identify as "positivist", some because they themselves arose in opposition to older forms of positivism, and some because the label has over time become a term of abuse<ref name="Wacquant"/> by being mistakenly linked with a theoretical [[empiricism]]. The extent of antipositivist criticism has also diverged, with many rejecting the scientific method and others only seeking to amend it to reflect 20th century developments in the philosophy of science. However, positivism (broadly understood as a scientific approach to the study of society) remains dominant in contemporary sociology, especially in the United States.<ref name="Wacquant"/>

[[Loic Wacquant]] distinguishes three major strains of positivism: [[Durkheimian]], Logical and Instrumental.<ref name="Wacquant"/> None of these are the same as that set forth by Comte, who was unique in advocating such a rigid (and perhaps optimistic) version.<ref name="Classical Statements11"/><ref name="autogenerated2005"/> While Émile Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method. Durkheim maintained that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisted that they should retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality.<ref name="Wacquant"/> He developed the notion of objective ''sui generis'' "social facts" to delineate a unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study.<ref name="Wacquant"/>

The variety of positivism that remains dominant today is termed ''instrumental positivism''. This approach eschews epistemological and metaphysical concerns (such as the nature of social facts) in favor of methodological clarity, [[replicability]], [[reliabilism|reliability]] and [[validity]].<ref name="Gartell"/> This positivism is more or less synonymous with [[quantitative research]], and so only resembles older positivism in practice. Since it carries no explicit philosophical commitment, its practitioners may not belong to any particular school of thought. Modern sociology of this type is often credited to [[Paul Lazarsfeld]],<ref name="Wacquant"/> who pioneered large-scale survey studies and developed statistical techniques for analyzing them. This approach lends itself to what [[Robert K. Merton]] called [[Middle range theory (sociology)|middle-range theory]]: abstract statements that generalize from segregated hypotheses and empirical regularities rather than starting with an abstract idea of a social whole.<ref name="Boudon"/>

===Anti-positivism===
{{Main|Anti-positivism}}
Reactions against social empiricism began when German philosopher [[Hegel]] voiced opposition to both empiricism, which he rejected as uncritical, and determinism, which he viewed as overly mechanistic.<ref name="Classical Statements"/> [[Karl Marx]]'s methodology borrowed from [[Hegelian dialectic]]ism but also a rejection of positivism in favour of critical analysis, seeking to supplement the empirical acquisition of "facts" with the elimination of illusions.<ref name="Classical Statements2"/> He maintained that appearances need to be critiqued rather than simply documented. Early hermeneuticians such as [[Wilhelm Dilthey]] pioneered the distinction between natural and social science ('[[Geisteswissenschaft]]'). Various [[neo-Kantian]] philosophers, [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenologist]]s and [[Human science|human scientists]] further theorized how the analysis of the [[social reality|social world]] differs to that of the [[natural world]] due to the irreducibly complex aspects of human society, [[culture]], and [[being]].<ref>Rickman, H. P. (1960) ''The Reaction against Positivism and Dilthey's Concept of Understanding'', The London School of Economics and Political Science. p307</ref>

At the turn of the 20th century the first generation of German sociologists formally introduced methodological [[anti-positivism]], proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural [[norm (sociology)|norm]]s, [[value (personal and cultural)|values]], [[symbol]]s, and social processes viewed from a resolutely [[subject (philosophy)|subjective]] perspective. [[Max Weber]] argued that sociology may be loosely described as a science as it is able to identify [[causality|causal relationships]] of human "[[social action]]"—especially among "[[ideal type]]s", or hypothetical simplifications of complex social phenomena.<ref name="Classical Statements5"/> As a non-positivist, however, Weber sought relationships that are not as "historical, invariant, or generalizable"<ref name="Classical Statements6"/> as those pursued by natural scientists. Fellow German sociologist, [[Ferdinand Tönnies]], theorized on two crucial abstract concepts with his work on "[[Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft]]" (lit. ''community'' and ''society''). Tönnies marked a sharp line between the realm of concepts and the reality of social action: the first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way ("pure sociology"), whereas the second empirically and inductively ("applied sociology").<ref>*Ferdinand Tönnies (ed. Jose Harris), ''Community and Civil Society'', Cambridge University Press (2001), hardcover, 266 pages, ISBN 0-521-56119-1; trade paperback, Cambridge University Press (2001), 266 pages, ISBN 0-521-56782-3</ref>

[[File:Max Weber 1894.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Max Weber]]
{{Quotation|''[Sociology is ]'' ... the science whose object is to interpret ''the meaning of social action'' and thereby give a ''causal explanation'' of the way in which the ''action proceeds'' and the ''effects which it produces''. By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behavior when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as ''subjectively meaningful'' ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b) the meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of ''prior'' discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning.|[[Max Weber]] ''The Nature of Social Action'' 1922|<ref>Weber, Max ''The Nature of Social Action'' in Runciman, W.G. 'Weber: Selections in Translation' Cambridge University Press, 1991. p7.</ref>}}

Both Weber and [[Georg Simmel]] pioneered the "''[[Verstehen]]''" (or 'interpretative') method in social science; a systematic process by which an outside observer attempts to relate to a particular cultural group, or indigenous people, on their own terms and from their own point-of-view.<ref>Kaern, Phillips & Cohen. (1990) ''Georg Simmel and Contemporary Sociology''. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7923-0407-4. p15.</ref> Through the work of Simmel, in particular, sociology acquired a possible character beyond positivist data-collection or grand, deterministic systems of structural law. Relatively isolated from the sociological academy throughout his lifetime, Simmel presented idiosyncratic analyses of modernity more reminiscent of the [[phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenological]] and [[existentialism|existential]] writers than of Comte or Durkheim, paying particular concern to the forms of, and possibilities for, social individuality.<ref name="autogenerated1971"/> His sociology engaged in a neo-Kantian inquiry into the limits of perception, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?'<ref>Levine, Donald (ed) 'Simmel: On individuality and social forms' Chicago University Press, 1971. p6.</ref>

[[File:Simmel 01.JPG|upright|thumb|Georg Simmel]]
{{Quotation|The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life. The antagonism represents the most modern form of the conflict which primitive man must carry on with nature for his own bodily existence. The eighteenth century may have called for liberation from all the ties which grew up historically in politics, in religion, in morality and in economics in order to permit the original natural virtue of man, which is equal in everyone, to develop without inhibition; the nineteenth century may have sought to promote, in addition to man's freedom, his individuality (which is connected with the division of labor) and his achievements which make him unique and indispensable but which at the same time make him so much the more dependent on the complementary activity of others; Nietzsche may have seen the relentless struggle of the individual as the prerequisite for his full development, while socialism found the same thing in the suppression of all competition – but in each of these the same fundamental motive was at work, namely the resistance of the individual to being leveled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism.|[[Georg Simmel]] ''[[The Metropolis and Mental Life]]'' 1903|<ref>Simmel, Georg ''The Metropolis and Mental Life'' in Levine, Donald (ed) 'Simmel: On individuality and social forms' Chicago University Press, 1971. p324.</ref>}}


==Theoretical frameworks==
{{Main|Sociological theory}}
The contemporary discipline of sociology is theoretically multi-paradigmatic.<ref name="Abend">Abend, Gabriel. 2008. "The meaning of 'Theory'."  Sociological Theory, 26:2</ref>  Modern sociological theory descends from the historical foundations of functionalist (Durkheim) and conflict-centered (Marx) accounts of social structure, as well as the micro-scale structural ([[Georg Simmel|Simmel]]) and [[pragmatism|pragmatist]] ([[George Herbert Mead|Mead]]) theories of social interaction.  Contemporary sociological theory retains traces of these approaches.

Presently, sociological theories lack a single overarching foundation, and there is little consensus about what such a framework should consist of.<ref name="Abend"/> However, a number of broad paradigms cover much present sociological theorizing. In the humanistic parts of the discipline, these paradigms are referred to as ''social'' theory, and are often shared with the humanities.  The discipline's dominant scientifically-oriented areas generally focus on a different set of theoretical perspectives, which by contrast are generally referred to as ''sociological'' theory.  These include [[new institutionalism]], [[social network]]s, [[social identity]], [[social capital|social]] and [[cultural capital]], toolkit and [[cognitive science|cognitive]] theories of [[culture]], and [[resource mobilization]]. [[Analytical sociology]] is an ongoing effort to systematize many of these [[middle range theory (sociology)|middle-range theories]].

===Functionalism===

{{Main|Structural functionalism}}
A broad historical paradigm in both sociology and [[anthropology]], functionalism addresses the [[social structure]] as a whole and in terms of the necessary function of its constituent elements. A common analogy (popularized by [[Herbert Spencer]]) is to regard [[norm (sociology)|norm]]s and [[institution]]s as 'organs' that work toward the proper-functioning of the entire 'body' of society.<ref name="Sociology beyond societies: mobilities for the twenty-first century"/> The perspective was implicit in the original sociological positivism of Comte, but was theorized in full by Durkheim, again with respect to observable, structural laws. Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as [[Marcel Mauss]], [[Bronisław Malinowski]] and [[Radcliffe-Brown]]. It is in Radcliffe-Brown's specific usage that the prefix 'structural' emerged.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/function.htm |title=Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences The University of Alabama: Anthropological theories |publisher=As.ua.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref> Classical functionalist theory is generally united by its tendency towards biological analogy and notions of [[social evolutionism]]. As [[Anthony Giddens|Giddens]] states: "Functionalist thought, from Comte onwards, has looked particularly towards biology as the science providing the closest and most compatible model for social science. Biology has been taken to provide a guide to conceptualizing the structure and the function of social systems and to analyzing processes of evolution via mechanisms of adaptation ... functionalism strongly emphasizes the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual parts (i.e. its constituent actors, human subjects)."<ref>Giddens, Anthony "The Constitution of Society" in '''The Giddens Reader''' Philip Cassell (eds.) MacMillan Press pp.88</ref>

===Conflict theory===
{{Main|Conflict theory}}
Functionalism aims only toward a general perspective from which to conduct social science. Methodologically, its principles generally contrast those approaches that emphasize the [[microsociology|"micro"]], such as [[verstehen|interpretivism]] or [[symbolic interactionism]]. Its emphasis on "cohesive systems", however, also holds political ramifications. Functionalist theories are often therefore contrasted with "conflict theories" which critique the overarching socio-political system or emphasize the inequality of particular groups. The works of Durkheim and Marx epitomize the political, as well as theoretical, disparities, between functionalist and conflict thought respectively:

{{Quotation|To aim for a civilization beyond that made possible by the nexus of the surrounding environment will result in unloosing sickness into the very society we live in. Collective activity cannot be encouraged beyond the point set by the condition of the social organism without undermining health.|Émile Durkheim ''[[The Division of Labor in Society]]'' 1893|<ref>Durkheim, Émile ''The Division of Labor in Society'' [1893] LA Coser: New York: The Free Press, 1984</ref>}}

{{Quotation|The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.|[[Karl Marx]] & [[Friedrich Engels]] ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' 1848|<ref>Marx and Engels, ''The Communist Manifesto'', introduction by Martin Malia (New York: Penguin group, 1998), pg. 35 ISBN 0-451-52710-0</ref> }}

===20th century social theory===
[[File:Anthony Giddens at the Progressive Governance Converence, Budapest, Hungary, 2004 October.jpg|thumb|upright|150px|left|[[Anthony Giddens]]]]
The functionalist movement reached its crescendo in the 1940s and 1950s, and by the 1960s was in rapid decline.<ref name="Coakley"/> By the 1980s, functionalism in Europe had broadly been replaced by [[conflict theory|conflict]]-oriented approaches.<ref name="Slattery"/> While some of the critical approaches also gained popularity in the United States, the mainstream of the discipline instead shifted to a variety of empirically-oriented [[Middle range theory (sociology)|middle-range theories]] with no single overarching theoretical orientation. To many in the discipline, functionalism is now considered "as dead as a dodo."<ref name="Barnes"/>

As the influence of both functionalism and Marxism in the 1960s began to wane, the [[linguistic turn|linguistic]] and [[cultural turn]]s led to myriad new movements in the social sciences: "According to Giddens, the orthodox consensus terminated in the late 1960s and 1970s as the middle ground shared by otherwise competing perspectives gave way and was replaced by a baffling variety of competing perspectives. This third 'generation' of social theory includes phenomenologically inspired approaches, critical theory, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and theories written in the tradition of hermeneutics and ordinary language philosophy."<ref>Cassell, Philip ''The Giddens Reader'' (1993) The Macmillan Press Ltd, pp. 6</ref>

The [[structural linguistics|structuralist]] movement originated from the [[linguistics|linguistic]] theory of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] and was later expanded to the social sciences by theorists such as [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]]. In this context, 'structure' refers not to 'social structure' but to the [[semiotic]] understanding of human culture as a [[sign (semiotics)|system of signs]]. One may delineate four central tenets of structuralism: First, structure is what determines the structure of a whole. Second, structuralists believe that every system has a structure. Third, structuralists are interested in 'structural' laws that deal with coexistence rather than changes. Finally, structures are the 'real things' beneath the surface or the appearance of meaning.<ref>Assiter, A 1984, 'Althusser and structuralism', The British journal of sociology, vol. 35, no. 2, Blackwell Publishing, pp.272–296.</ref>

[[Post-structuralist]] thought has tended to [[antihumanism|reject 'humanist' assumptions]] in the conduct of [[social]] [[theory]].<ref>Giddens, Anthony "The Constitution of Society" in '''The Giddens Reader''' Philip Cassell (eds.) MacMillan Press pp.89</ref> [[Michel Foucault]] provides a potent critique in his ''[[the Order of Things|archaeology of the human sciences]]'', though [[Habermas]] and [[Richard Rorty|Rorty]] have both argued that Foucault merely replaces one such system of thought with another.<ref>Jürgen Habermas. ''Taking Aim at the Heart of the Present'' in Hoy, D (eds) 'Foucault: A critical reader' Basil Blackwell. Oxford, 1986.</ref><ref>Richard Rorty. ''Foucault and Epistemology'' in Hoy, D (eds) 'Foucault: A critical reader' Basil Blackwell. Oxford, 1986.</ref> The dialogue between these intellectuals highlights a trend in recent years for certain schools of sociology and philosophy to intersect. The anti-humanist position has been associated with "[[postmodernism]]," a term used in specific contexts to describe an ''era'' or ''phenomena'', but occasionally construed as a ''method''.

==Structure and agency==
{{Main|Structure and agency}}
Structure and agency, form an enduring ontological debate in social theory: "Do social structures determine an individual's behaviour or does human agency?" In this context '[[agency (sociology)|agency]]' refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choices, whereas '[[social structure|structure]]' relates to  factors which limit or affect the choices and actions of individuals (such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and so on). Discussions over the primacy of either structure and agency relate to the core of sociological epistemology ("What is the social world made of?", "What is a cause in the social world, and what is an effect?").<ref name="The Constitution of Society"/> A general outcome of incredulity toward structural or agential thought has been the development of multidimensional theories, most notably the [[action theory (sociology)|action theory]] of [[Talcott Parsons]] and [[Anthony Giddens]]'s [[theory of structuration]].

==Research methodology==
{{Main|Social research}}
Sociological research methods may be divided into two broad categories:

* [[Quantitative method|Quantitative designs]] approach social phenomena through quantifiable evidence, and often rely on statistical analysis of many cases (or across intentionally designed treatments in an experiment) to create valid and reliable general claims
* [[Qualitative research|Qualitative designs]] emphasize understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or analysis of texts, and may stress contextual and subjective accuracy over generality

Sociologists are divided into camps of support for particular research techniques. These disputes relate to the epistemological debates at the historical core of social theory. While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches involve a systematic interaction between [[social theory|theory]] and data.<ref name="Methods"/> Quantitative methodologies hold the dominant position in sociology, especially in the United States.<ref name="Wacquant"/> In the discipline's two most cited journals, quantitative articles have historically outnumbered qualitative ones by a factor of two.<ref name="Hunter"/> (Most articles published in the largest British journal, on the other hand, are [[Qualitative research|qualitative]].) Most textbooks on the methodology of social research are written from the quantitative perspective,<ref name="Hanson"/> and the very term "methodology" is often used synonymously with "[[statistics]]." Practically all sociology PhD program in the United States require training in statistical methods. The work produced by quantitative researchers is also deemed more 'trustworthy' and 'unbiased' by the greater public,<ref name="gm"/> though this judgment continues to be challenged by antipositivists.<ref name="gm"/>

The choice of method often depends largely on what the researcher intends to investigate. For example, a researcher concerned with drawing a statistical generalization across an entire population may administer a [[Survey research|survey questionnaire]] to a representative sample population. By contrast, a researcher who seeks full contextual understanding of an individual's [[social actions]] may choose ethnographic [[participant observation]] or open-ended interviews. Studies will commonly combine, or [[triangulation (social science)|'triangulate']], quantitative ''and'' qualitative methods as part of a 'multi-strategy' design. For instance, a quantitative study may be performed to gain statistical patterns or a target sample, and then combined with a qualitative interview to determine the play of [[Agency (sociology)|agency]].<ref name="Methods"/>

===Sampling===
[[File:Planche de Galton.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The [[bean machine]], designed by early social research methodologist Sir [[Francis Galton]] to demonstrate the [[normal distribution]], which is important to much quantitative [[hypothesis testing]].]]
Quantitative methods are often used to ask questions about a population that is very large, making a [[census]] or a complete [[enumeration]] of all the members in that population infeasible. A 'sample' then forms a manageable [[subset]] of a [[Statistical population|population]]. In quantitative research, statistics are used to draw [[inference]]s from this sample regarding the population as a whole. The process of selecting a sample is referred to as [[sampling (statistics)|'sampling']]. While it is usually best to [[random sampling|sample randomly]], concern with differences between specific subpopulations sometimes calls for [[stratified sampling]]. Conversely, the impossibility of random sampling sometimes necessitates [[nonprobability sampling]], such as [[convenience sampling]] or [[snowball sampling]].<ref name="Methods"/>

===Methods===
''The following list of research methods is neither exclusive nor exhaustive:''
* [[Archival research]] or the [[Historical method]]: draws upon the [[secondary data]] located in historical archives and records, such as biographies, memoirs, journals, and so on.
* [[Content analysis]]: The content of interviews and other texts is systematically analyzed. Often data is 'coded' as a part of the '[[grounded theory]]' approach using qualitative data analysis (QDA) software, such as [[NVivo]].<ref>Martin, Patricia Yancey, Turner, Barry A.. (1986). "Grounded Theory and Organizational Research". ''The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science'', 22(2), 141. Retrieved June 21, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1155984).</ref>
* [[Experimental research]]: The researcher isolates a single social process and reproduces it in a laboratory (for example, by creating a situation where unconscious sexist judgments are possible), seeking to determine whether or not certain social [[Dependent and independent variables|variables]] can cause, or depend upon, other variables (for instance, seeing if people's feelings about traditional gender roles can be manipulated by the activation of contrasting gender [[stereotype]]s).<ref name="Jost"/> Participants are [[Random assignment|randomly assigned]] to different groups which either serve as [[Scientific control|controls]]—acting as reference points because they are tested with regard to the dependent variable, albeit without having been exposed to any independent variables of interest—or receive one or more treatments. Randomization allows the researcher to be sure that any resulting differences between groups are the result of the treatment.
* [[Longitudinal study]]: An extensive examination of a specific person or group over a long period of time.
* [[Observation]]: Using data from the senses, the researcher records information about social phenomenon or behavior. Observation techniques may or may not feature participation. In [[participant observation]], the researcher goes into the field (such as a community or a place of work), and participates in the activities of the field for a prolonged period of time in order to acquire a deep understanding of it.<ref>Macionis, J., and Gerber, L. (2010). Sociology, 7th edition. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Canada Inc.. pp. 42</ref> Data acquired through these techniques may be analyzed either quantitatively or qualitatively.
* [[Survey research]]: The researcher gathers data using interviews, questionnaires, or similar feedback from a set of people sampled from a particular population of interest. Survey items from an interview or questionnaire may be open-ended or closed-ended.<ref>Macionis, Gerber, John, Linda (2010). Sociology 7th Canadian Ed. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Canada Inc.. pp. 40</ref> Data from surveys is usually analyzed statistically on a computer.

===Computational sociology===
[[File:Sna large.png|thumb|160px|left|A [[social network]] diagram: individuals (or 'nodes') connected by relationships.]][[File:A sociological study of violence in history (Italy 1919-1922).gif|thumb|220px|right|A sociological study of violence by [[text mining]].<ref>Quantitative Narrative Analysis (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences). Roberto Franzosi, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 2010. 
</ref> Arrow width proportional to number of violent acts. (Click on large animated GIF image to see evolution)]]
{{Main|Computational sociology}}
Sociologists increasingly draw upon computationally intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena.<ref name="Blackwell">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2007 |title=Computational Sociology |last=Bainbridge |first=William Sims |encyclopedia=Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |publisher=Blackwell Reference Online |url=http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/subscriber/tocnode?id=g9781405124331_chunk_g97814051243319_ss1-85 |doi=10.1111/b.9781405124331.2007.x |editor=Ritzer, George|isbn=978-1-4051-2433-1}}</ref> Using [[computer simulation]]s, [[artificial intelligence]], [[text mining]], complex statistical methods, and new analytic approaches like [[social network]] analysis, computational sociology develops and tests theories of complex social processes through bottom-up modeling of social interactions.<ref name="MW"/> 

Although the subject matter and methodologies in social science differ from those in natural science or [[computer science]], several of the approaches used in contemporary social simulation originated from fields such as [[physics]] and artificial intelligence.<ref name="Artificial Societies"/><ref name="Cooperation"/> By the same token, some of the approaches that originated in computational sociology have been imported into the natural sciences, such as measures of [[centrality|network centrality]] from the fields of social network analysis and [[network science]]. In relevant literature, computational sociology is often related to the study of [[social complexity]].<ref name="The Computer as Laboratory: Toward a Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems"/> Social complexity concepts such as [[complex systems]], [[non-linear]] interconnection among macro and micro process, and [[emergence]], have entered the vocabulary of computational sociology.<ref name="Methodological Implications of Complex Systems Approaches to Sociality: Simulation as a Foundation for Knowledge"/> A practical and well-known example is the construction of a computational model in the form of an "[[artificial society]]", by which researchers can analyze the structure of a social system.<ref name="SfSS1"/><ref name="Generative"/>

===Practical applications of social research===
Social research informs [[politician]]s and [[public policy|policy makers]], [[education|educators]], [[urban planner|planners]], [[lawmakers]], [[Public administration|administrators]], [[Real estate development|developers]], [[business magnate]]s, managers, [[social worker]]s, [[non-governmental organization]]s, [[non-profit organization]]s, 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.

==Areas of sociology==
* '''Social organization''' is the study of the various institutions, social groups, social stratification, social mobility, bureaucracy, ethnic groups and relations, and other similar subjects like family, education, politics, religion, economy, and so on and so forth.
* '''Social psychology''' is the study of human nature as an outcome of group life, social attitudes, collective behavior, and personality formation. It deals with group life and the individual's traits, attitudes, beliefs as influenced by group life, and it views man with reference to group life.
* '''Social change and disorganization''' is the study of the change in culture and social relations and the disruption that may occur in society, and it deals with the study of such current problems in society such as juvenile delinquency, criminality, drug addiction, family conflicts, divorce, population problems, and other similar subjects.
* '''Human ecology''' deals with the nature and behavior of a given population and its relationships to the group's present social institutions. For instance, studies of this kind have shown the prevalence of mental illness, criminality, delinquencies, prostitution, and drug addiction in urban centers and other highly developed places.
* '''Population or demography''' is the study of population number, composition, change, and quality as they influence the economic, political, and social system.
* '''Sociological theory and method''' is concerned with the applicability and usefulness of the principles and theories of group life as bases for the regulation of man's environment, and includes theory building and testing as bases for the prediction and control of man's social environment.
* '''Applied sociology''' utilizes the findings of pure sociological research in various fields such as criminology, social work, community development, education, industrial relations, marriage, ethnic relations, family counseling, and other aspects and problems of daily life.<ref>"What Is Applied Sociology?" Applied Sociology. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.appliedsoc.org/applied-sociology/>.</ref>

==Scope and topics==
{{Main|Subfields of sociology|Outline of sociology}}

===Culture===
[[File:AdornoHorkheimerHabermasbyJeremyJShapiro2.png|thumb|right|[[Max Horkheimer]] (left, front), [[Theodor Adorno]] (right, front), and [[Jürgen Habermas]] (right, back) 1965.]]
{{Main|Sociology of culture|Cultural studies}}
For [[Georg Simmel|Simmel]], culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history".<ref name="autogenerated1971"/> Whilst early theorists such as [[Durkheim]] and [[Marcel Mauss|Mauss]] were influential in [[cultural anthropology]], sociologists of culture are generally distinguished by their concern for [[modern]] (rather than [[Primitive culture|primitive]] or ancient) society. Cultural sociology is seldom empirical, preferring instead the [[hermeneutic]] analysis of words, artifacts and symbols.{{dubious|date=January 2012}} The field is closely allied with [[critical theory]] in the vein of [[Theodor W. Adorno]], [[Walter Benjamin]], and other members of the [[Frankfurt School]]. Loosely distinct to sociology is the field of [[cultural studies]]. [[Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies|Birmingham School]] theorists such as [[Richard Hoggart]] and [[Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)|Stuart Hall]] questioned the division between "producers" and "consumers" evident in earlier theory, emphasizing the reciprocity in the production of texts. Cultural Studies aims to examine its subject matter in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power. For example, a study of a [[subculture]] (such as white working class youth in London) would consider the social practices of the group as they relate to the dominant class. The "[[cultural turn]]" of the 1960s, which ushered in [[structural functionalism|structuralist]] and so-called [[postmodern philosophy|postmodern]] approaches to social science and placed culture much higher on the sociological agenda.

===Criminality, deviance, law and punishment===
{{Main|Criminology|Sociology of law|Sociology of punishment|Deviance (sociology)}}
Criminologists analyze the nature, causes, and control of criminal activity, drawing upon methods across sociology, [[psychology]], and the [[behavioural sciences]]. The sociology of deviance focuses on actions or behaviors that violate [[norm (sociology)|norm]]s, including both formally enacted rules (e.g., [[crime]]) and informal violations of cultural norms. It is the remit of sociologists to study why these norms exist; how they change over time; and how they are enforced. The concept of deviance is central in contemporary structural functionalism and systems theory. [[Robert K. Merton]] produced a [[Robert K. Merton#Merton's theory of deviance|typology of deviance]], and also established the terms "[[role model]]", "[[Law of Unintended Consequences|unintended consequences]]", and "[[self-fulfilling prophecy]]".<ref name="Robert K. Merton Remembered"/>

The study of law played a significant role in the formation of classical sociology. Durkheim famously described law as the "visible symbol" of social solidarity.<ref>Banakar, Reza (2009) "Law Through Sociology's Looking Glass: Conflict and Competition in Sociological Studies of Law" in "The new ISA handbook in contemporary international sociology: Conflict, Competition, and Cooperation", Ann Denis, Devorah Kalekin-Fishman, eds., (London: Sage). An e-copy available at [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1327025 papers.ssrn.com]</ref> The sociology of law refers to both a sub-discipline of sociology and an approach within the field of legal studies. Sociology of law is a diverse field of study which examines the interaction of law with other aspects of society, such as the development of legal [[institution]]s and the effect of laws on social change and vice versa. For example, an influential recent work in the field relies on statistical analyses to argue that the increase in incarceration in the US over the last 30 years is due to changes in law and policing and not to an increase in crime; and that this increase significantly contributes to maintaining racial [[Social stratification|stratification]].<ref name="Western"/>

===Economic sociology===
{{Main|Economic sociology}}
The term "economic sociology" was first used by [[William Stanley Jevons]] in 1879, later to be coined in the works of Durkheim, Weber and Simmel between 1890 and 1920.<ref name="princeton1"/> Economic sociology arose as a new approach to the analysis of economic phenomena, emphasizing class relations and [[modernity]] as a philosophical concept. The relationship between [[capitalism]] and [[modernity]] is a salient issue, perhaps best demonstrated in Weber's ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]'' (1905) and Simmel's ''[[The Philosophy of Money]]'' (1900). The contemporary period of economic sociology, also known as ''new economic sociology'', was consolidated by the 1985 work of [[Mark Granovetter]] titled "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness". This work elaborated the concept of [[embeddedness]], which states that economic relations between individuals or firms take place within existing social relations (and are thus structured by these relations as well as the greater social structures of which those relations are a part). [[Social network|Social network analysis]] has been the primary methodology for studying this phenomenon. Granovetter's theory of the [[Mark Granovetter#The strength of weak ties|strength of weak ties]] and [[Ronald Burt]]'s concept of structural holes are two best known theoretical contributions of this field.
===Environment===
{{Main|Environmental sociology|Sociology of disaster|Human ecology}}
Environmental sociology is the study of human interactions with the natural environment, typically emphasizing human dimensions of environmental problems, social impacts of those problems, and efforts to resolve them. As with other subfields of sociology, scholarship in environmental sociology may be at one or multiple levels of analysis, from global (e.g. world-systems) to local, societal to individual. Attention is paid also to the processes by which environmental problems become ''defined'' and ''known'' to humans.

===Education===
{{Main|Sociology of education}}
The sociology of education is the study of how educational institutions determine social structures, experiences, and other outcomes. It is particularly concerned with the schooling systems of modern industrial societies.<ref name="Dictionary"/> A classic 1966 study in this field by [[James Samuel Coleman|James Coleman]], known as the "Coleman Report", analyzed the performance of over 150,000 students and found that student background and socioeconomic status are much more important in determining educational outcomes than are measured differences in school resources (''i.e.'' per pupil spending).<ref name="Hanushek"/> The controversy over "school effects" ignited by that study has continued to this day. The study also found that socially disadvantaged black students profited from schooling in racially mixed classrooms, and thus served as a catalyst for [[desegregation busing]] in American public schools.

===Family, gender, and sexuality===
[[File:WomanFactory1940s.jpg|thumb|left|200px|"[[Rosie the Riveter]]" was an iconic symbol of the American [[United States home front during World War II|homefront]] and a departure from [[gender roles]] due to wartime necessity.]]
{{Main|Sociology of the family|Sociology of childhood|Sociology of gender|Feminist sociology|Feminist theory|Queer theory}}
Family, gender and sexuality form a broad area of inquiry studied in many subfields of sociology. The sociology of the family examines the family, as an [[institution]] and unit of [[socialization]], with special concern for the comparatively modern historical emergence of the [[nuclear family]] and its distinct [[gender roles]]. The notion of "[[childhood]]" is also significant. As one of the more basic institutions to which one may apply sociological perspectives, the sociology of the family is a common component on introductory academic curricula. [[Feminist sociology]], on the other hand, is a normative subfield that observes and critiques the cultural categories of gender and sexuality, particularly with respect to power and inequality. The primary concern of feminist theory is the [[patriarchy]] and the systematic oppression of women apparent in many societies, both at the level of small-scale interaction and in terms of the broader social structure. [[Social psychology]] of gender, on the other hand, uses experimental methods to uncover the microprocesses of gender stratification. For example, one recent study has shown that resume evaluators penalize women for motherhood while giving a boost to men for fatherhood.<ref>Correll, Shelley, Stephen Benard, In Paik. 2007. "Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty?" American Journal of Sociology 112: 1297–1338.</ref> Another set of experiments showed that men whose sexuality is questioned compensate by expressing a greater desire for military intervention and sport utility vehicles as well as a greater opposition to gay marriage.<ref>http://willer.berkeley.edu/WillerOverdoingGender.pdf</ref>

===Health and illness===
{{Main|Sociology of health and illness|Medical sociology}}
The sociology of health and illness focuses on the social effects of, and public attitudes toward, [[illness]]es, [[disease]]s, [[disabilities]] and the [[aging]] process. Medical sociology, by contrast, focuses on the inner-workings of medical organizations and clinical institutions. In Britain, sociology was introduced into the medical curriculum following the Goodenough Report (1944).<ref name="British Sociological Association: Medical Sociology"/>

===Internet===
{{Main|Sociology of the Internet}}
The [[Internet]] is of interest to sociologists in various ways; most practically as a tool for [[social research|research]] and as a discussion platform.<ref>D. R. Wilson, Researching Sociology on the Internet, Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004, ISBN 0-534-62437-5</ref> The sociology of the Internet in the broad sense regards the analysis of [[online communities]] (e.g. [[newsgroup]]s, social networking sites) and [[virtual world]]s. Online communities may be studied statistically through [[social network|network analysis]] or interpreted qualitatively through [[virtual ethnography]]. Organizational change is catalyzed through [[new media]], thereby influencing social change at-large, perhaps forming the framework for a transformation from an [[industrial society|industrial]] to an [[informational society]]. One notable text is [[Manuel Castells]]' ''[[The Internet Galaxy]]''—the title of which forms an inter-textual reference to [[Marshall McLuhan]]'s ''[[The Gutenberg Galaxy]]''.<ref>The Internet Galaxy, Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. Oxford, Oxford University Press (2001)</ref>

===Knowledge and science===
{{Main|Sociology of knowledge|Sociology of scientific knowledge}}
The sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought and the social context within which it arises, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies. The term first came into widespread use in the 1920s, when a number of German-speaking theorists, most notably [[Max Scheler]], and [[Karl Mannheim]], wrote extensively on it. With the dominance of [[Structural functionalism|functionalism]] through the middle years of the 20th century, the sociology of knowledge tended to remain on the periphery of mainstream sociological thought. It was largely reinvented and applied much more closely to everyday life in the 1960s, particularly by [[Peter L. Berger]] and [[Thomas Luckmann]] in ''[[The Social Construction of Reality]]'' (1966) and is still central for methods dealing with qualitative understanding of human society (compare ''[[socially constructed reality]]''). The "archaeological" and "genealogical" studies of [[Michel Foucault]] are of considerable contemporary influence.

The sociology of science involves the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing "with the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity."<ref name="socofsci-bendavid"/> Important theorists in the sociology of science include [[Robert K. Merton]] and [[Bruno Latour]]. These branches of sociology have contributed to the formation of [[science and technology studies]].

===Media===
{{Main|Media studies}}
As with [[cultural studies]], media studies is a distinct discipline which owes to the convergence of sociology and other social sciences and humanities, in particular, [[literary criticism]] and [[critical theory]]. Though the production process or the critique of aesthetic forms is not in the remit of sociologists, analyses of [[socialisation|socialising]] factors, such as [[ideology|ideological effects]] and [[audience reception]], stem from sociological theory and method. Thus the 'sociology of the media' is not a subdiscipline ''per se'', but the media is a common and often-indispensable topic.

===Military===
{{Main|Military sociology}}
Military sociology aims toward the systematic study of the military as a social group rather than as an [[Military organization|organization]]. It is a highly specialized subfield which examines issues related to service personnel as a distinct [[social group|group]] with coerced [[collective action]] based on shared [[Advocacy group|interests]] linked to survival in [[vocation]] and [[combat]], with purposes and [[value (personal and cultural)|values]] that are more defined and narrow than within civil society. Military sociology also concerns [[civilian]]-military relations and interactions between other groups or governmental agencies. Topics include the dominant assumptions held by those in the military, changes in military members' willingness to fight, military unionization, military professionalism, the increased utilization of women, the military industrial-academic complex, the military's dependence on research, and the institutional and organizational structure of military.<ref name="Core Issues and Theory in Military Sociology"/>

===Political sociology===
{{Main|Political sociology}}
[[File:JuergenHabermas.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jürgen Habermas]]]]
Historically political sociology concerned the relations between political organization and society.  A typical research question in this area might be: "Why do so few American citizens choose to vote?"<ref>Piven, F. (1988) ''Why Americans Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want it That Way'' Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-72318-8</ref> In this respect questions of political opinion formation brought about some of the pioneering uses of statistical [[survey research]] by [[Paul Lazarsfeld]].  A major subfield of political sociology developed in relation to such questions, which draws on comparative history to analyze socio-political trends. The field developed from the work of [[Max Weber]] and [[Moisey Ostrogorsky]].<ref>Lipset, S.M. ''Introduction: Ostrogorski and the Analytical Approach to the Comparative Study of Political Parties'' in M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political (2 vol, 1964; 1982 ed.)</ref>

Contemporary political sociology includes these areas of research, but it has been opened up to wider questions of power and politics.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LWwBN3rUrO4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=contemporary+political+sociology&hl=en&ei=UaGETsjbOI6r8QPgr9w0&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AE |title=Contemporary political sociology ... - Kate Nash |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref>  Today political sociologists are as likely to be concerned with how identities are formed that contribute to structural domination by one group over another; the politics of who knows how and with what authority; and questions of how power is contested in social interactions in such a way as to bring about widespread cultural and social change.  Such questions are more likely to be studied qualitatively.  The study of social movements and their effects has been especially important in relation to these wider definitions of politics and power.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5mazSOSvqrEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=social+movements&hl=en&ei=iKGETretNoia8QPL-b1i&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Social movements: an introduction - Donatella Della Porta, Mario Diani |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref>

===Race and ethnic relations===
{{Main|Sociology of race and ethnic relations|Sociology of immigration}}
The sociology of race and of ethnic relations is the area of the discipline that studies the [[Social relation|social]], political, and economic relations between [[Race (classification of human beings)|races]] and [[ethnicities]] at all levels of society. This area encompasses the study of [[racism]], [[residential segregation]], and other complex social processes between different racial and ethnic groups. This research frequently interacts with other areas of sociology such as [[Social stratification|stratification]] and [[Social psychology (sociology)|social psychology]], as well as with [[postcolonial theory]]. At the level of political policy, ethnic relations are discussed in terms of either [[assimilationism]] or [[multiculturalism]].<ref>"Milton Louw - Making A Better World." : Oldest Coloured Owned Business in Namibia. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://milton-louw.blogspot.com/2011/03/oldest-coloured-owned-business-in.html>.</ref> [[Anti-racism]] forms another style of policy, particularly popular in the 1960s and 70s.

===Religion===
{{Main|Sociology of religion}}
The sociology of religion concerns the practices, historical backgrounds, developments, universal themes and roles of religion in society.<ref>Kevin J. Christiano, et al., (2nd ed., 2008), Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-6111-3</ref> There is particular emphasis on the recurring role of religion in all societies and throughout recorded history. The sociology of religion is distinguished from the [[philosophy of religion]] in that sociologists do not set out to assess the validity of religious truth-claims, instead assuming what [[Peter L. Berger]] has described as a position of "methodological atheism".<ref>Berger, Peter L. ''The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion'' (1967). Anchor Books 1990 paperback: ISBN 0-385-07305-4</ref> It may be said that the modern formal discipline of sociology ''began'' with the analysis of religion in Durkheim's 1897 [[suicide (book)|study of suicide]] rates amongst [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Protestant]] populations. Max Weber published four major texts on religion in a context of [[economic sociology]] and his [[rationalization (sociology)|rationalization thesis]]: ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]'' (1905), ''[[The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism]]'' (1915), ''[[The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism]]'' (1915), and ''[[Ancient Judaism (book)|Ancient Judaism]]'' (1920). Contemporary debates often center on topics such as [[secularization]], [[civil religion]], and the role of religion in a context of [[globalization]] and [[multiculturalism]].

===Social networks===
[[File:Harrisonwhite.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Harrison White]]]]
{{Main|Social network|Social network analysis}}
A social network is a [[social structure]] composed of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes", which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of [[interdependency]], such as [[friendship]], [[kinship]], financial exchange, dislike, [[sexual network|sexual relationships]], or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals. Social network analysis makes no assumption that groups are the building blocks of society: the approach is open to studying less-bounded social systems, from non-local [[communities]] to networks of exchange. Rather than treating individuals (persons, organizations, states) as discrete units of analysis, it focuses on how the structure of ties affects individuals and their relationships. In contrast to analyses that assume that socialization into norms determines behavior, network analysis looks to see the extent to which the structure and composition of ties affect norms. Unlike most other areas of sociology, social network theory is usually defined in [[Mathematical sociology|formal mathematics]].

===Social psychology===
{{Main|Social psychology (sociology)}}
Sociological social psychology focuses on micro-scale [[social actions]]. This area may be described as adhering to "sociological miniaturism", examining whole societies through the study of individual thoughts and emotions as well as behavior of small groups.<ref name="Sociological miniaturism: seeing the big through the small in social psychology"/> Of special concern to psychological sociologists is how to explain a variety of demographic, social, and cultural facts in terms of human social interaction. Some of the major topics in this field are social inequality, group dynamics, prejudice, aggression, social perception, group behavior, social change, nonverbal behavior, socialization, conformity, leadership, and social identity. Social psychology may be taught with [[Social psychology (psychology)|psychological emphasis]].<ref name="about1"/> In sociology, researchers in this field are the most prominent users of the [[experiment|experimental method]] (however, unlike their psychological counterparts, they also frequently employ other methodologies). Social psychology looks at social influences, as well as social perception and social interaction.<ref name="about1"/>

===Stratification===
{{Main|Social stratification|Social mobility|Social class}}
Social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into social classes, [[caste]]s, and divisions within a society. 
.<ref>Macionis, Gerber, John, Linda (2010). Sociology 7th Canadian Ed. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Canada Inc.. pp. 225</ref> Modern [[Western culture|Western societies]] stratification traditionally relates to cultural and economic classes arranged in three main layers: [[upper class]], [[middle class]], and [[lower class]], but each class may be further subdivided into smaller classes (e.g. [[occupational prestige|occupational]]).<ref name="Social Class and Stratification"/> Social stratification is interpreted in radically different ways within sociology. Proponents of [[structural functionalism]] suggest that, since the stratification of classes and castes is evident in all societies, hierarchy must be beneficial in stabilizing their existence. [[Conflict theory|Conflict theorists]], by contrast, critique the inaccessibility of resources and lack of [[social mobility]] in stratified societies.

Karl Marx distinguished social classes by their connection to the [[means of production]] in the capitalist system: the [[bourgeoisie]] own the means, but this effectively includes the [[proletariat]] itself as the workers can only sell their own [[labour power]] (forming the [[base and superstructure|material base of the cultural superstructure]]). [[Max Weber]] critiqued Marxist [[economic determinism]], arguing that social stratification is not based purely on economic inequalities, but on other status and power differentials (e.g. [[patriarchy]]). According to Weber, stratification may occur amongst at least three complex variables: (1) Property (class): A person's economic position in a society, based on birth and individual achievement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Macionis, Gerber,|first=John, Linda|title=Sociology 7th Canadian Ed.|year=2010|publisher=Pearson Canada Inc..|location=Toronto, Ontario|isbn=978-0-13-700161-3|pages=243.}}</ref> Weber differs from Marx in that he does not see this as the supreme factor in stratification. Weber noted how managers of corporations or industries control firms they do not own; Marx would have placed such a person in the proletariat.   (2) Prestige (status): A person's prestige, or popularity in a society. This could be determined by the kind of job this person does or wealth.  and (3) Power (political party): A person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. For example, individuals in state jobs, such as an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or a member of the United States Congress, may hold little property or status but they still hold immense power<ref>{{cite book|last=Stark|first=, Rodney|title=Sociology|year=2006|publisher=Wadsworth Publishing|isbn=978-0-495-09344-2}}</ref> [[Pierre Bourdieu]] provides a modern example in the concepts of [[cultural capital|cultural]] and [[symbolic capital]]. Theorists such as [[Ralf Dahrendorf]] have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle-class in modern Western societies, particularly in relation to the necessity of an educated work force in technological or service-based economies.<ref>Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1959) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref> Perspectives concerning globalization, such as [[dependency theory]], suggest this effect owes to the shift of workers to the [[Third World]].<ref>Bornschier V. (1996), 'Western society in transition' New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.</ref>

===Urban and rural sociology===
{{Main|Urban sociology|Rural sociology}}
Urban sociology involves the analysis of social life and human interaction in metropolitan areas. It is a [[normative]] discipline, seeking to provide advice for planning and policy making. After the [[industrial revolution]], works such as [[Georg Simmel]]'s ''[[The Metropolis and Mental Life]]'' (1903) focused on urbanization and the effect it had on alienation and anonymity. In the 1920s and 1930s The [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago School]] produced a major body of theory on the nature of the city, important to both urban sociology and criminology, utilising [[symbolic interactionism]] as a method of field research. Contemporary research is commonly placed in a context of [[globalization]], for instance, in [[Saskia Sassen]]'s study of the "[[Global city]]".<ref>Sassen, Saskia – The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (1991) – Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07063-6</ref> Rural sociology, by contrast, is the analysis of non-metropolitan areas.

===Work and industry===
{{Main|Industrial sociology}}
The sociology of work, or industrial sociology, examines "the direction and implications of trends in [[technological]] change, [[globalization]], labour markets, work organization, [[managerial]] practices and [[division of labour|employment relations]] to the extent to which these trends are intimately related to changing patterns of inequality in modern societies and to the changing experiences of individuals and families the ways in which workers challenge, resist and make their own contributions to the patterning of work and shaping of work institutions."<ref>Watson, Tony J. 2008 ''Sociology, Work, and Industry''. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-43555-2. p392</ref>

==Sociology and the other academic disciplines==
Sociology overlaps with a variety of disciplines that study society, in particular [[anthropology]], [[political science]], [[economics]], and [[social philosophy]]. Many comparatively new fields such as [[communication studies]], [[cultural studies]], [[demography]] and [[literary theory]], draw upon methods that originated in sociology. The terms "[[social science]]" and "[[social research]]" have both gained a degree of autonomy since their origination in classical sociology. The distinct field of [[social psychology]] emerged from the many intersections of sociological and psychological interests, and is further distinguished in terms of [[social psychology (sociology)|sociological]] or [[Social psychology (psychology)|psychological emphasis]].<ref>Sherif, M., and CW Sherif. An Outline of Social Psychology (rev. ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956</ref>

Sociology and [[applied sociology]] are connected to the professional and academic discipline of [[social work]].<ref name="Web page"/> Both disciplines study social interactions, community and the effect of various systems (i.e. family, school, community, laws, political sphere) on the individual.<ref name="Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities"/>  However, social work is generally more focused on practical strategies to alleviate social dysfunctions; sociology in general provides a thorough examination of the root causes of these problems.<ref name="Direct Social Work Practice"/>  For example, a sociologist might study ''why'' a community is plagued with poverty.  The [[applied sociology|applied sociologist]] would be more focused on practical strategies on ''what'' needs to be done to alleviate this burden.  The social worker would be focused on ''action''; implementing theses strategies [[clinical social work|"directly"]] or [[Community practice|"indirectly"]] by means of [[mental health|mental health therapy]], [[counseling]], [[advocacy]], [[community organization]] or [[community mobilization]].<ref name="Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities"/>

[[Social anthropology]] is the branch of [[anthropology]] that studies how contemporary living human beings behave in [[social group]]s. Practitioners of social anthropology, like sociologists, investigate various facets of [[social organization]]. Traditionally, social anthropologists analysed non-industrial and non-Western societies, whereas sociologists focused on industrialized societies in the Western world. In recent years, however, social anthropology has expanded its focus to modern Western societies, meaning that the two disciplines increasingly converge.<ref name="James Trostle"/><ref name="Sociology-Basic Concepts"/>

[[Sociobiology]] is the study of how [[social behavior]] and organization have been influenced by [[evolution]] and other [[biological process]]. The field blends sociology with a number of other sciences, such as anthropology, [[biology]], and [[zoology]]. Sociobiology has generated controversy within the sociological academy for allegedly giving too much attention to gene expression over socialization and environmental factors in general (see '[[nature versus nurture]]'). [[Entomology|Entomologist]] [[E. O. Wilson]] is credited as having originally developed and described Sociobiology.<ref>Dugan, David. "NOVA: Lord of the Ants." NOVA: Lord of the Ants. Dir. David Dugan. Prod. David Dugan. PBS. WGBH, Boston, Massachusetts, 20 May 2008. Television.</ref>

[[Irving Louis Horowitz]], in his ''The Decomposition of Sociology'' (1994), has argued that the discipline, whilst arriving from a "distinguished lineage and tradition", is in decline due to deeply ideological theory and a lack of relevance to policy making: "The decomposition of sociology began when this great tradition became subject to ideological thinking, and an inferior tradition surfaced in the wake of totalitarian triumphs."<ref name="autogenerated1994"/> Furthermore: "A problem yet unmentioned is that sociology's malaise has left all the social sciences vulnerable to pure positivism—to an empiricism lacking any theoretical basis. Talented individuals who might, in an earlier time, have gone into sociology are seeking intellectual stimulation in business, law, the natural sciences, and even creative writing; this drains sociology of much needed potential."<ref name="autogenerated1994"/> Horowitz cites the lack of a 'core discipline' as exacerbating the problem. [[Randall Collins]], the [[Dorothy Swaine Thomas]] Professor in Sociology at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and a member of the Advisory Editors Council of the [[Social Evolution & History]] journal, has voiced similar sentiments: "we have lost all coherence as a discipline, we are breaking up into a conglomerate of specialities, each going on its own way and with none too high regard for each other."<ref>Randall Collins, Cited in Horowitz, Irving (1994) ''The Decomposition of Sociology'' Oxford University Press. p3-9</ref>

In 2007, ''[[Times Higher Education|The Times Higher Education Guide]]'' published a list of 'The most cited authors of books in the Humanities' (including philosophy and psychology). Seven of the top ten are listed as sociologists: [[Michel Foucault]] (1), [[Pierre Bourdieu]] (2), [[Anthony Giddens]] (5), [[Erving Goffman]] (6), [[Jürgen Habermas]] (7), [[Max Weber]] (8), and [[Bruno Latour]] (10).<ref name="The most cited authors of books in the humanities"/>

</font>

==Journals==

The most highly ranked journals in the field of general sociology are ''[[Sociological Perspectives (journal)|Sociological Perspectives]]'', the ''[[American Sociological Review]]'', the ''[[American Journal of Sociology]]'', the ''[[British Journal of Sociology]]'', and ''[[Sociology (journal)|Sociology]]''.<ref name=WoS>{{cite book |year=2011 |chapter=Journals Ranked by Impact: Sociology |title=2010 [[Journal Citation Reports]] |publisher=[[Thomson Reuters]] |edition=Social Sciences |accessdate=2011-10-18 |work=Web of Science |postscript=.}}</ref> 
Many more specialized journals also exist.


==E tun wo==
{{Wikipedia books}}
{{Portal|Sociology}}
{{Main|Outline of sociology}}
* [[History of social science]]
* [[History of sociology]]
* [[List of sociologists]]
* [[List of sociology journals]]
* [[Subfields of sociology]]
* [[Timeline of sociology]]
* [[Sociological theory]]

{{ẹ̀kúnrẹ́rẹ́}}

==Itokasi==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name = "Jost">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.498 | last1 = Jost | first1 = JT | last2 = Kay | first2 = AC | year = 2005 | title = Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification | url = http://www.willettsurvey.org/TMSTN/Gender/ComplementaryGenderSterotypes.pdf | format = PDF | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 88 | issue = 3| pages = 498–509 | pmid = 15740442 }}</ref>
<ref name="Akhtar">{{cite journal | last1 = Dr | first1 = | last2 = Akhtar | first2 = S. W. | year = 1997 | title = The Islamic Concept of Knowledge | url = | journal = Al-Tawhid: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture | volume = 12 | issue = | page = 3 }}</ref>

<ref name="Artificial Societies">{{Cite book|last1=Epstein |first1=JM |last2=Axell |first2=R |year=1996 |title=Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Brookings Institute Press|isbn=0-262-05053-6}}</ref>

<ref name="Barnes">Barnes, B. 1995. ''The Elements of Social Theory.'' London: UCL Press. Quoted in Jay J. Coakley, Eric Dunning, ''Handbook of sports studies''</ref>

<ref name="Bendix1">{{Cite book|last=Bendix |first=Reinhard |authorlink=Reinhard Bendix |title=Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait |url=http://books.google.com/?id=63sC9uaYqQsC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1 |date=July 1, 1977 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-03194-6}}</ref>

<ref name="Boudon">Boudon, Raymond. 1991. "Review: What Middle-Range Theories are". Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 20 Num. 4 pp 519–522.</ref>

<ref name="British Journal of Sociology Website">{{cite web|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/serials/Bjs/ |title=British Journal of Sociology Website |publisher=Lse.ac.uk |date=2009-04-02 |accessdate=2009-04-20}}</ref>

<ref name="British Sociological Association: Medical Sociology">{{cite web|url=http://www.britsoc.co.uk/medsoc/MedSoc+History.htm |title=British Sociological Association: Medical Sociology |publisher=BSA |date= |accessdate=2009-10-23}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |page=169 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements11">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |pages=94–98, 100–104|isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements2">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |pages=202–203 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements4">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |pages=3–5, 38–40 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements5">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |pages=239–240 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements6">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |page=241 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Classical Statements8">{{Cite book|author=Ashley D, Orenstein DM |title=Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.) |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Massachusetts, USA |year=2005 |pages=3–5, 32–36 |isbn=}}</ref>

<ref name="Coakley">Jay J. Coakley, Eric Dunning, ''Handbook of sports studies''</ref>

<ref name="Computational Social Science">{{Cite journal  |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/323/5915/721  |title=Computational Social Science  |journal=Science  |date=February 6, 2009  |volume=323 |issue=5915 |pages=721–723 |doi=10.1126/science.1167742  |first1=David |last1=Lazer  |first2=Alex |last2=Pentland  |pmid=19197046  |last3=Adamic |first3=L  |last4=Aral |first4=S  |last5=Barabasi |first5=AL  |last6=Brewer |first6=D  |last7=Christakis |first7=N  |last8=Contractor |first8=N  |last9=Fowler |first9=J  |pmc=2745217 }}</ref>

<ref name="Cooperation">{{Cite book|last1=Axelrod |first1=Robert |year=1997 |title=The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01568-6}}</ref>

<ref name="Core Issues and Theory in Military Sociology">{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3719/is_200107/ai_n8977420 |title=Core Issues and Theory in Military Sociology |accessdate=2008-07-14 |publisher=Journal of Political and Military Sociology |last= Siebold |first= Guy |year= 2001}}</ref>

<ref name="Dictionary">Gordon Marshall (ed) ''A Dictionary of Sociology'' (Article: Sociology of Education), Oxford University Press, 1998</ref>

<ref name="DinW">Durkheim, Émile. 1895. ''The Rules of the Sociological Method''. Cited in Wacquant (1992).</ref>

<ref name="DinW">Ward, Lester. 1895. '''The Outlines of Sociology'''.</ref>

<ref name="Direct Social Work Practice">{{cite book|last=Hepworth, D.H, Rooney, R.H., Rooney, G.D, Strom-Gottfried, K., Larsen, J.A.|title=Direct Social Work Practice|year=2006|publisher=Thomson Brooks/Cole|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=0-534-64458-9|chapter=1}}</ref>

<ref name="Enan">{{Cite book|title=Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Works|first=Muhammed Abdullah|last=Enan|publisher=[[The Other Press]]|year=2007|isbn=983-9541-53-6|page=v|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>

<ref name="From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117  |last1=Macy |first1=Michael  |first2=Robb |last2=Willer |year=2002  |title=From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling  |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=28 |pages=143–66}}</ref>

<ref name="Gartell">{{cite journal | last1 = Gartell | first1 = David | last2 = Gartell | first2 = John | year = 1996 | title = Positivism in sociological practice: 1967–1990 | url = | journal = Canadian Review of Sociology | volume = 33 | issue = | page = 2 }}</ref>

<ref name="Gates">{{Cite journal|doi=10.2307/2708627|title=The Spread of Ibn Khaldun's Ideas on Climate and Culture|author=Warren E. Gates|journal=[[Journal of the History of Ideas]]|volume=28|issue=3|date=July–September 1967|pages=415–422 [415]|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|postscript=<!--None-->|jstor=2708627}}</ref>

<ref name="Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities">{{cite book|last=Kirst-Ashman, K.K. & Hull, G.H.|title=Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities|year=2009|publisher=Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=0-495-50715-6|edition=4th}}</ref>

<ref name="Generative">{{Cite book|last=Epstein |first=Joshua |year=2007 |title=Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling |location=Princeto|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12547-3}}</ref>

<ref name="Giddens Intro">Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. ''Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition.'' New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Chapter 1.</ref>

<ref name="Giddens Intro">Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. ''Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition.'' New York: W.W. Norton and Company</ref>

<ref name="Halfpenny">Halfpenny, Peter. ''Positivism and Sociology: Explaining Social Science.'' London:Allen and Unwin, 1982.</ref>

<ref name="Hanson">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s11135-006-9041-7 | last1 = Hanson | first1 = Barbara | year = 2008 | title = Whither Qualitative/Quantitative?: Grounds for Methodological Convergence | url = | journal = Quality and Quantity | volume = 42 | issue = | pages = 97–111 }}</ref>

<ref name="Hanushek">[http://newyorkfed.org/research/epr/98v04n1/9803hanu.pdf Hanushek, Eric A. (1998) "Conclusions and Controversies about the Effectiveness of School Resources" ''Economic Policy Review'' Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 4(1): pp. 11–27], accessed 30 December 2008</ref>

<ref name="Hunter">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s12108-008-9042-1 | last1 = Hunter | first1 = Laura | last2 = Leahey | first2 = Erin | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2008 | title = Collaborative Research in Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors | url = | journal = American Sociologist | volume = 39 | issue = 4| pages = 290–306 }}</ref>

<ref name="James Trostle">{{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=ggn-VgZceYAC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=Will+Anthropology+be+absorbed+by+Sociology%3F&q=Will%20Anthropology%20be%20absorbed%20by%20Sociology%3F |title=James Trostle |accessdate=2009-09-08|publisher=Springer|author1=Janes, Craig Robert|author2=Stall, Ron|author3=Gifford, Sandra M|year=1986|isbn=978-90-277-2248-5}}</ref>

<ref name="MW">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117|title=From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling |first1=Michael W. |last1=Macy |first2=Robert |last2=Willer |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=28 |pages=143–166|publisher=Annual Reviews|year=2002 |jstor=3069238}}</ref>

<ref name="Max Weber – Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy">{{cite web|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/ |title=Max Weber – Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy |publisher=Plato.stanford.edu |date=2007-08-24 |accessdate=2010-01-05}}</ref>

<ref name="Methodological Implications of Complex Systems Approaches to Sociality: Simulation as a Foundation for Knowledge">{{Cite journal|last=Goldspink |first=C |year=2002 |title=Methodological Implications of Complex Systems Approaches to Sociality: Simulation as a Foundation for Knowledge |url=http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/5/1/3.html |publisher=Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation |volume=5 |issue=1}}</ref>

<ref name="Methods">Haralambos & Holborn. ''Sociology: Themes and perspectives'' (2004) 6th ed, Collins Educational. ISBN 978-0-00-715447-0. Chapter 14: Methods</ref>

<ref name="Mowlana">H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", ''Cooperation South Journal'' '''1'''.</ref>

<ref name="Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z | last1 = Haque | first1 = Amber | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2004 | title = Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists | url = | journal = Journal of Religion and Health | volume = 43 | issue = 4| pages = 357–377 [375] }}</ref>

<ref name="Robert K. Merton Remembered">{{cite web|url=http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/mar03/indextwo.html |title=Robert K. Merton Remembered |date= |accessdate=2009-12-02}}</ref>

<ref name="SfSS1">{{Cite book|last1=Gilbert |first1=Nigel |last2=Troitzsch |first2=Klaus |year=2005 |title=Simulation for Social Scientists |edition=2 |chapter=Simulation and social science |publisher=Open University Press |url=http://cress.soc.surrey.ac.uk/s4ss/|unused_data=location}}</ref>

<ref name="Slattery">Slattery, Martin. 1993. ''Key Ideas in Sociology''. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, Ltd.</ref>

<ref name="Social Class and Stratification">{{Cite book  | last=Saunders | first=Peter  | author-link=Peter Robert Saunders  | year=1990  | title=Social Class and Stratification  | publisher=Routledge  | url=http://books.google.com/?id=FK-004p0J_EC  | isbn=978-0-415-04125-6 }}</ref>

<ref name="Sociological miniaturism: seeing the big through the small in social psychology">{{Cite journal|title=Sociological miniaturism: seeing the big through the small in social psychology|author=Stolte, John F; Fine, Gary Alan; Cook, Karen S.|journal=Annual Review of Sociology|volume= 27|pages= pp. 387–413|year= 2001|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.387}}</ref>

<ref name="Sociology beyond societies: mobilities for the twenty-first century">{{Cite book|last=Urry |first=John |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ogyDBobOHVEC&pg=PA23 |title=Sociology beyond societies: mobilities for the twenty-first century |chapter=Metaphors |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |page=23 |isbn=978-0-415-19089-3 }}</ref>

<ref name="Sociology-Basic Concepts">{{cite web|url=http://nos.org/331courseE/L-3%20SOCIOLOGY%20ITS%20RELATIONSHIP%20WITH%20OTHER%20SOCIAL%20SCIEN.pdf|title=Sociology-Basic Concepts |accessdate=2010-11-28|publisher=nos.org|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20110626125649/http://nos.org/331courseE/L-3%20SOCIOLOGY%20ITS%20RELATIONSHIP%20WITH%20OTHER%20SOCIAL%20SCIEN.pdf|archivedate=2011-06-26}}</ref>

<ref name="The Autonomous, the Universal and the Future of Sociology">{{Cite journal|last=Alatas|first=S. H.|title=The Autonomous, the Universal and the Future of Sociology|journal=Current Sociology|year=2006|volume=54|pages=7–23 [15]|doi=10.1177/0011392106058831|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>

<ref name="The Computer as Laboratory: Toward a Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems">{{Cite journal|last=Casti |first=J |year=1999 |title=The Computer as Laboratory: Toward a Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems |journal=Complexity |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=12–14}}</ref>

<ref name="The Constitution of Society">{{Cite book|author=Giddens, A |title=The Constitution of Society|publisher=University of California Press |location=California |year=1996|pages=14–19|isbn= 0-520-05728-7}}</ref>

<ref name="The most cited authors of books in the humanities">{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=405956&sectioncode=26 |title=The most cited authors of books in the humanities |publisher=timeshighereducation.co.uk |date=2009-03-26 |accessdate=2009-11-16}}</ref>

<ref name="University of Kansas Sociology Department Webpage">{{cite web|url=http://www.ku.edu/%7Esocdept/about/ |title=University of Kansas Sociology Department Webpage |publisher=Ku.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-20}}</ref>

<ref name="Wacquant">Wacquant, Loic. 1992. "Positivism." In Bottomore, Tom and William Outhwaite, ed., ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Social Thought''</ref>

<ref name="Web page">{{cite web|title=Web page|url=http://nos.org/331courseE/L-3%20SOCIOLOGY%20ITS%20RELATIONSHIP%20WITH%20OTHER%20SOCIAL%20SCIEN.pdf|work=Sociology and Its Relationships to Other Social Sciences|publisher=National Organization of Sociology|accessdate=15 July 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20110626125649/http://nos.org/331courseE/L-3%20SOCIOLOGY%20ITS%20RELATIONSHIP%20WITH%20OTHER%20SOCIAL%20SCIEN.pdf|archivedate=26 June 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="Western">Western, Bruce. 2006. ''Punishment and Inequality in America.'' New York: Russel Sage.</ref>

<ref name="about1">{{cite web|url=http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/socialpsych.htm |title=What Is Social Psychology – An Introduction to Social Psychology |publisher=Psychology.about.com |date= |accessdate=2010-06-01}}</ref>

<ref name="autogenerated1971">Levine, Donald (ed) 'Simmel: On individuality and social forms' Chicago University Press, 1971. pxix.</ref>

<ref name="autogenerated1994">Horowitz, Irving (1994) ''The Decomposition of Sociology'' Oxford University Press. p3-9</ref>

<ref name="autogenerated2000">Gianfranco Poggi (2000). ''Durkheim.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>

<ref name="autogenerated2005">Fish, Jonathan S. 2005. 'Defending the Durkheimian Tradition. Religion, Emotion and Morality' Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.</ref>

<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=De5sdTFRt5YC&pg=PA199&lpg=PP1&dq=commager+the+american+mind|title= The American mind: an interpretation of American thought and character since 1880s|isbn= 978-0-300-00046-7|author1= Commager, Henry Steele|date= 1959-09-10}}</ref>

<ref name="britannica">"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/217277/Frankfurt-School Frankfurt School]". (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from [[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] . Retrieved September 12, 2009.</ref>

<ref name="camic">Camic, Charles. 1992. "Reputation and Predecessor Selection: Parsons and the Institutionalists", American Sociological Review, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Aug., 1992), pp. 421–445</ref>

<ref name="comte">''Dictionary of the Social Sciences'', Article: Comte, Auguste</ref>

<ref name="gm">[http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2095839.pdf Jstor.org]</ref>

<ref name="princeton1">{{cite web|url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7525.html |title=Principles of Economic Sociology by Richard Swedberg – An extract |accessdate=2009-12-02}}</ref>

<ref name="socofsci-bendavid">{{Cite journal |title = Sociology of Science |first = Joseph |last = Ben-David |coauthors = Teresa A. Sullivan |journal = Annual Review of Sociology |volume = 1 |year =  1975 |pages = 203–222 |url = http://www.compilerpress.atfreeweb.com/Anno%20Ben%20David%20&%20Sullivan%20Sociology%20of%20Science%20ARS%201975.htm |accessdate = 2006-11-29 |doi = 10.1146/annurev.so.01.080175.001223 }}</ref>

<ref name="transformation325">Harriss, John. ''The Second Great Transformation? Capitalism at the End of the Twentieth Century'' in Allen, T. and Thomas, Alan (eds) ''Poverty and Development in the 21st Century', Oxford University Press, Oxford. p325.</ref>

<ref name="uchicago1970">{{cite web|url=http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJS/home.html |title=American Journal of Sociology Website |publisher=Journals.uchicago.edu |date=1970-01-01 |accessdate=2009-04-20}}</ref>

<ref name="Émile Durkheim's Division of Labor and the Shadow of Herbert Spencer">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1111/j.1533-8525.1995.tb00465.x | last1 = Perrin | first1 = Robert G. | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 1995| title = Émile Durkheim's Division of Labor and the Shadow of Herbert Spencer | url = | journal = Sociological Quarterly | volume = 36 | issue = 4| pages = 791–808 }}</ref>
}}

==Iwe fun kika==
* Aby, Stephen H. ''Sociology: A Guide to Reference and Information Sources, 3rd edn.'' Littleton, Colorado, Libraries Unlimited Inc., 2005, ISBN 1-56308-947-5 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=57475961}}
* [[Earl Babbie|Babbie, Earl R.]]. 2003. ''The Practice of Social Research, 10th edition.'' Wadsworth, [[Thomson Learning]] Inc., ISBN 0-534-62029-9 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=51917727}}
* [[Randall Collins|Collins, Randall]]. 1994. ''Four Sociological Traditions.'' Oxford, [[Oxford University Press]] ISBN 0-19-508208-7 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=28411490}}
* [[Lewis A. Coser|Coser, Lewis A.]], ''Masters of Sociological Thought : Ideas in Historical and Social Context'', New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971. ISBN 0-15-555128-0.
* [[Anthony Giddens|Giddens, Anthony]]. 2006. ''Sociology'' (5th edition), Polity, Cambridge. ISBN 0-7456-3378-1 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=63186308}}
*{{Cite book|year=1989 |author=Landis, Judson R |title=Sociology: Concepts and Characteristics |place=Belmont, California |edition=7th |publisher=Wadsworth |isbn=0-534-10158-5 |postscript=<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->}}
*{{Cite book|year=1991 |author=Macionis, John J |title=Sociology |edition=3rd  |place=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=0-13-820358-X |postscript=<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->}}
* [[Robert K. Merton|Merton, Robert K.]]. 1959. ''Social Theory and Social Structure. Toward the codification of theory and research'', Glencoe: Ill. (Revised and enlarged edition) {{Cite book|title =| oclc=4536864}}
*[http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/~wood/207socimagination.htm Mills, C. Wright, The Sociological Imagination,1959]{{Cite book| title =|oclc=165883}}
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20061106060908/http://ddl.uwinnipeg.ca/res_des/files/readings/cwmills-intel_craft.pdf C. Wright Mills, Intellectual Craftsmanship Advices how to Work for young Sociologist]
*{{Cite book|last=Mitchell |first=Geoffrey Duncan |title=A Hundred Years of Sociology: A Concise History of the Major Figures, Ideas, and Schools of Sociological Thought |year=2007, originally published in 1968  |publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-202-36168-0 |oclc=145146341}}
* [[Robert A. Nisbet|Nisbet, Robert A.]] 1967. ''The Sociological Tradition'', London, Heinemann Educational Books. ISBN 1-56000-667-6 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=26934810}}
* [[George Ritzer|Ritzer, George]] and Douglas J. Goodman. 2004.  ''Sociological Theory, Sixth Edition.'' [[McGraw-Hill|McGraw Hill]]. ISBN 0-07-281718-6 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=52240022}}
* Scott, John & Marshall, Gordon (eds) ''A Dictionary of Sociology'' (3rd Ed). Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-860986-8, {{Cite book|title=|oclc=60370982}}
* Wallace, Ruth A. & Alison Wolf. 1995. ''Contemporary Sociological Theory: Continuing the Classical Tradition'', 4th ed., Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-036245-X {{Cite book|title=|oclc=31604842}}
* [[Harrison White|White, Harrison C.]]. 2008. ''Identity and Control. How Social Formations Emerge.'' (2nd ed., Completely rev. ed.) Princeton, [[Princeton University Press]]. ISBN 978-0-691-13714-8 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=174138884}}
* Willis, Evan. 1996. ''The Sociological Quest: An introduction to the study of social life'', [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]], [[Rutgers University Press]]. ISBN 0-8135-2367-2 {{Cite book|title=|oclc=34633406}}

==Ijapo ode==
{{WVS}}
;Professional associations
{{Refbegin|2}}
* [http://www.afsanet.org/ African Sociological Association (AfSA)]
* [http://www.asanet.org/ American Sociological Association (ASA)]
* [http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/doane/ahsweb1.htm Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS)]
* [http://www.tasa.org.au/ Australian Sociological Association (TASA)]
* [http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ British Sociological Association (BSA)]
* [http://www.csaa.ca/ Canadian Sociological Association (CSA)]
* [http://www.acsalf.ca/ Canadian Association of French-speaking Sociologists and Anthropologists]
* [http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/esa/ European Sociological Association (ESA)]
* [http://www.afs-socio.fr French Sociological Association]
* [http://www.soziologie.de German Sociological Association (DGS)]
* [http://www.insoso.org/  Indian Sociological Society (Insoso)]
* [http://www.iisoc.org/ International Institute of Sociology (IIS)]
* [http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/ International Sociological Association (ISA)]
* [http://www.alas.fsoc.uba.ar/index.html Latin American Sociological Association (ALAS)]
* [http://www.aps.pt/ Portuguese Sociological Association (APS)]
* [http://www.sociology.ie/ Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI)]
* [http://www.sasaonline.org.za/ South African Sociological Association (SASA)]
{{Refend}}

{{Social sciences-footer}}

[[Ẹ̀ka:Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀aláwùjọ| ]]
[[Ẹ̀ka:Ìṣeọ̀rọ̀àwùjọ| ]]
[[Ẹ̀ka:Ọ̀rọ̀-àwùjọ| ]]
[[Ẹ̀ka:Àwọn sáyẹ́nsì àwùjọ]]