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    Whatis Sociology

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    Sociology is defined in 3 sentences: 1) Sociology is the systematic and objective study of human social life, groups and societies. 2) As a social science, sociology utilizes various empirical and analytical techniques to broaden understanding of social order, disorder, and change. 3) The subject areas of sociology range from individual interactions to global social systems and the social construction of reality.

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    Whatis Sociology

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    Neelam Zahra
    36 views5 pages
    Sociology is defined in 3 sentences: 1) Sociology is the systematic and objective study of human social life, groups and societies. 2) As a social science, sociology utilizes various empirical and analytical techniques to broaden understanding of social order, disorder, and change. 3) The subject areas of sociology range from individual interactions to global social systems and the social construction of reality.

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    Sociology is defined in 3 sentences: 1) Sociology is the systematic and objective study of human social life, groups and societies. 2) As a social science, sociology utilizes various empirical and analytical techniques to broaden understanding of social order, disorder, and change. 3) The subject areas of sociology range from individual interactions to global social systems and the social construction of reality.

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    36 views5 pages

    Whatis Sociology

    Uploaded by

    Neelam Zahra
    Sociology is defined in 3 sentences: 1) Sociology is the systematic and objective study of human social life, groups and societies. 2) As a social science, sociology utilizes various empirical and analytical techniques to broaden understanding of social order, disorder, and change. 3) The subject areas of sociology range from individual interactions to global social systems and the social construction of reality.

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    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

    net/publication/264800355

    What is sociology?

    Conference Paper · August 2014


    DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3537.6003

    CITATION READS
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    1 author:

    Flourish Itulua-Abumere
    Government of Canada
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    Author: Flourish Itulua Abumere

    Organization: Staffordshire University

    Department of sociology
    Faculty of Creative Art and Technology
    Stoke-On-Trent. Staffordshire.
    [email protected]

    Introduction
    We live in a modern society today that is powerfully perturbing nevertheless full of the most superfluous
    usual pledge for the future. Modern day societies are saturated with revolution and transformation
    which is manifested by deep social and political conflicts, nervousness and social divisions, as well as by
    the negative impact of modern technology on environment. How did this come about? Why are our
    situations of life so dissimilar from those of our forefathers? What trend will change take in the future?
    These questions are some of the most important worries of sociology, a field of study that always has an
    essential role to play in contemporary intellectual culture (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008).

    Sociology is one of a number of social


    sciences (including economics, psychology
    and human geography) which endeavor to
    elucidate, give details and understand the
    actions of human beings in society.
    Distinct from some social sciences (such as
    economics) it is not subject to one
    particular area of life such as the
    economy. Certainly, sociologists have
    studied an enormous and various sorts of
    topics including food, shopping, family,
    popular music, gender and sexuality, the
    body, ethnic conflict, globalization,
    poverty, sport, science, health, race, drug
    use, inequality, criminal justices, war
    religion, migration, death, colonialism,
    housework, political issues, technology,
    community, networks, research methods,
    identity and stratification. (Giddens, 2001)

    You can barely find a significant area of social life


    which has never been the focus of a sociological
    study. Due to the nature of sociology (as it takes
    into account numerous and so wide-ranging
    subject area), sociology is not easily defined as a
    subject itself. It is more practical and logical to
    define sociology in terms of its approach or
    approaches to explaining social life rather than its
    subject matter (Giddens, 2001)

    So what is sociology?

    All that been said, sociology can be defined as the


    systematic and objective study of human social
    life, groups and societies. As earlier noted,
    sociology is an amazing and undeniable venture,
    as it subject theme is our own behavior as social
    beings. The extent of sociological study is
    tremendously broad, varying from the analysis of
    transitory encounters between persons in the
    street to the study of universal social processes.
    Sometimes it’s possible for us humans to view
    the world just like our own well-known
    memorable features of our own lives. Sociology
    reveals the need to take a much wider
    Understanding the subtle yet multifarious and observation of why we are as we are, and why we
    act as we do as I previously mentioned. It teaches
    philosophical ways in which our personal lives
    us that what we consider as normal, unavoidable,
    echo’s the contexts of our social experiences is good, bad, false or true may not be such, and that
    fundamental to the sociological point of view the ‘givens' of our life are powerfully influenced
    (Giddens, 2001). by historical and social forces.
    According the American Heritage Science Dictionary, sociology is the scientific study of social behavior,
    its origins, development, organization, and institutions (AHSD, 2013). One thing certainly sure of, is that
    sociology a social science that utilizes different techniques of empirical investigation and critical analysis
    to expand and broaden the understanding of a body of knowledge and according to Ashley and
    Orenstein, this includes social order, social disorder and social change (Ashley and Orenstein, 2005). For
    most sociologists, the principal concern for them is to carry out research which at least should be
    directly useful to social policy and welfare, whereas others concentrate principally on sanitizing and
    refurbishing the theoretical understanding of social development. Subject area ranges from the micro
    stage of individual organization and communication to the macro stage of systems and the social
    construction (Giddens, 2007).

    It is important to note that Sociology should not be mistaken for other different common social
    studies courses which have little relation to sociological theory or social science research methodology.
    According to the US National Science Foundation, sociology is regarded as a STEM Field. (A STEM Field is
    a short form referring to scholastic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics)
    (National Science Foundation, 2012)

    Learning to think sociologically involves looking, in other words, at the broader perspectives which
    means developing the imagination. The study of sociology is not a mere routine process of attaining
    facts, data, or understanding. A sociologist is a person who is intelligent enough to break free from the
    closeness of personal circumstances and put things in a wider context. Sociological work depends on
    what the American author C. Wright Mills, in a renowned phrase, called the sociological imaginations
    (Mills 1970). The sociological imagination allows us to see that many actions that seem to affect only the
    individual indicate larger issues. For instance, divorce. “Divorce may be a very difficult process for
    someone who goes through it, what Mills calls a personal trouble. But divorce according to Mills, is also
    a public issue in a society like present day Britain, were over a third of all marriages break up within ten
    years. Unemployment to take another example may be a personal tragedy for someone thrown out of a
    job and unable to find another. Yet it goes far beyond a matter for private despair when millions of
    people in a society are in the same situation. It then becomes a public issue expressing large social
    trends” (Giddens, 2001: 4)

    Why study sociology?


    Sociology is an interesting subject to study both at undergraduate and graduate level. It prepares a
    student for lifetime of change by increasing your admiration of multiplicity, willingness to learn,
    adopting lifelong skills such as analyzing data’s, writing and transcribing. Build your knowledge about
    human behavior, social organization, culture, and social change. Are you captivated about human
    behavior? Are you interested in finding out what is going on around the world, Are interested in making
    positive and remarkable effect to policies? Then sociology might be your last bus stop………

    Sociology will help you look deeply and neutrally into societal issues. It throws its focus to how societies
    balance together and change, and the cost of that social change. A study of Sociology provides the
    theoretical tools and methods for understanding the social issues that affects society be it group
    attitudes, values, behaviors, families, consumers, governments and organizations.

    What Can You Do With a Sociology Degree?


     Human/Social/Civil Services (Counseling, Advocacy, Case Management, Mental Health Services,
    Programming, Administration

     Criminal Justice (Corrections, Law Enforcement, Rehabilitation, Judiciary)

     Education (Teaching, Research)

     Government (Social Statistics, Demography, Public Administration, Policy Analysis, Research, Program
    Development, Human Services, City Planning, Law Enforcement)

     Social Science Research (Research, Data Analysis, Demography, Market Research, Information Sourcing)

     Environment and

     Business (Human Resources, Management, Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Office Administration)

    (University of Tennessee, 2009)

    References
    Mills, C. W. (1970). The Sociological Imagination. Harmondsworth: Penguin

    Ashley D, Orenstein DM (2005). Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.). Boston,
    Massachusetts, USA: Pearson Education. pp. 3-5, 32-40

    Giddens, et, al., (2007). Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
    Chapter 1

    AHSC, (2007). Sociology. The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Dictionary.com


    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sociology Retrieved 5/8/2014

    Haralambos, M., Holborn, M., & Heald, R. (2008). Sociology and perspectives. Hammer Smith.
    Giddens, A. (2001). Sociology. fully revised and updated. Cambridge: Polity.

    National Science Foundation (2012). Graduate Research Fellowship program (GRFP).


    http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12599/nsf12599.htm#appendix retrieved 05/08/2014

    The University of Tennessee, (2009). Urban Studies. What can I do with sociology major?
    http://www.umass.edu/careers/majors/html/urbanstudies.html retrieved 05/08/2014

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