Sociology Resources by Credo Reference: Overview

Scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious.

Although human social behavior has been studied since antiquity, the modern social sciences as disciplines rooted in the scientific method date only from the 18th cent. Enlightenment.

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
The systematic reflection on the nature of society and social relationships, social theory is intimately tied to the fate of sociology as a discipline concerned with the empirical study of social life.

The study of humankind. It investigates the cultural, social, and physical diversity of the human species, both past and present.

Study of how human beings allocate scarce resources to produce various commodities and how those commodities are distributed for consumption among the people in society.

Political science studies the distribution of power in different polities; the sources of power; how, when, and by whom it is exercised; as well as who gains and who loses in power struggles.

Science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment. Psychologists study processes of sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivations, personality, abnormal behavior, interactions between individuals, and interactions with the environment.

The primary goal of social studies curriculum is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to become active participants in society.

The study of crime, society's response to it, and its prevention, including examination of the environmental, hereditary, or psychological causes of crime, modes of criminal investigation and conviction, and the efficacy of punishment or correction (see prison) as compared with forms of treatment or rehabilitation.

From Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences
Economic sociology (or the sociology of economic phenomena) is situated at the intersection between economics and sociology. Its intellectual origins can be traced back to the work of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim at the end of the 19th century.

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
This is a type of sociology derived from phenomenological philosophy. It takes as its main aim the analysis and description of everyday life.

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
The branch of sociology concerned with the study of politics or the political subsystems of society.

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
Social psychology continues to straddle the border between sociology and psychology. However, despite a number of theoretical concerns in common, sociological social psychology and psychological social psychology remain largely independent endeavors.

From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
The study of the biological and evolutionary base of social behaviour.

The study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns.

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
The study of social relationships and structures in the city