Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. In order to carry out their studies, sociologists identify cultural patterns and social forces and determine how they affect individuals and groups. They also develop ways to apply their findings to the real world.
A dictionary defines sociology as the systematic study of society and social
interaction. The word “sociology” is derived from the Latin word socius
(companion) and the Greek word logos (speech or reason), which together mean
“reasoned speech about companionship”. How can the experience of companionship
or togetherness be put into words or explained? While this is a starting point for the
discipline, sociology is actually much more complex. It uses many different methods
to study a wide range of subject matter and to apply these studies to the real world.
The sociologist Dorothy Smith (1926 – ) defines the social as the “ongoing
concerting and coordinating of individuals’ activities” (Smith 1999). Sociology is
the systematic study of all those aspects of life designated by the adjective “social.”
These aspects of social life never simply occur; they are organized processes. They
can be the briefest of everyday interactions—moving to the right to let someone pass
on a busy sidewalk, for example—or the largest and most enduring interactions—
such as the billions of daily exchanges that constitute the circuits of global
capitalism. If there are at least two people involved, even in the seclusion of one’s
mind, then there is a social interaction that entails the “ongoing concerting and
coordinating of activities.” Why does the person move to the right on the sidewalk?
What collective process lead to the decision that moving to the right rather than the
left is normal? Think about the T-shirts in your drawer at home. What are the
sequences of linkages and social relationships that link the Tshirts in your chest of
drawers to the dangerous and hyper-exploitive garment factories in rural China or
Bangladesh? These are the type of questions that point to the unique domain and
puzzles of the social that sociology seeks to explore and understand.
What Are Society and Culture?
Sociologists study all aspects and levels of society. A society is a group of people
whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture. A culture
includes the group’s shared practices, values, beliefs, norms and artifacts. One
sociologist might analyze video of people from different societies as they carry on
everyday conversations to study the rules of polite conversation from different world
cultures. Another sociologist might interview a representative sample of people to
see how email and instant messaging have changed the way organizations are run.
Yet another sociologist might study how migration determined the way in which
language spread and changed over time. A fourth sociologist might study the history
of international agencies like the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund
to examine how the globe became divided into a First World and a Third World after
the end of the colonial era.
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