Being a sociology student, I get asked the question "what's that?" by the majority of people who ask me about my studies. It's easy to give a brief, generalized answer, but this article will give a more in-depth overview of the sociological field; what it is, where it came from, and what it does.
What is Sociology?
The Australian Sociological Association describes sociology as "a perspective on the social world that values critical thinking. Sociologists question the commonsense and popular explanations of social life and look at the dynamics of power and inequality in everyday life."
As the most basic answer, sociology is the study of society. But in practice, it really goes a lot deeper than that definition gives it credit for. Sociology analyzes every aspect of society that we deal with in every day life. It explores why we do things the way we do, it questions whether things we do are right or wrong, and it examines where we may be headed in the future.
The scope, and sub-fields that sociology can explore are almost endless. It covers everything from environment to education, religion to race issues and media to the military. Even within these examples, there are almost endless things to explore.
Then how is sociology different to anthropology?
While these days the two areas overlap in a lot of ways, we can find the difference by looking at origins of the two. Anthropology was founded on studying external, and foreign societies and cultures. Sociology came about by studying internal society, our own (Western) culture.
While anthropology was about finding new societies, and studying the way they interact and behave, sociology looked inwards, and explored how individual people are influenced by the governing forces that they deal with in day-to-day life.
A good way to explain the difference is to see anthropology as qualitative research, more focused on things like interviews and observing the subjects. Sociology is much more quantitative, using polls, statistics, and focusing on a much more empirical approach.
Who invented Sociology?
While sociological reasoning could have dated as far back as ancient Greece, sociology, in its modern form, was borne through the industrial revolution. With the introduction of "modernity" (post-industrial revolution society), along came capitalism, urbanization, secularization (and many other "ations" that you have to deal with as a sociology student.)
The term "sociology" was first used by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, who was a French writer during the late 18th-19th century. The term was later re-introduced by August Comte, known widely as the "father of sociology". He saw sociology as being the most important of all sciences, with the physical sciences all having to be introduced before this, as it is the most difficult to study. Karl Marx is also widely accredited for his contribution to sociology, with some people calling him the true father of the science.
What do sociologists do?
As a very basic definition, sociologists define what makes people think and act the way they do.
Sociologists are employed generally by universities, colleges or large organizations. They generally observe and investigate a defined social group or organization. What they study within that group, could be anything in regards to crime, gender, race, or any of the many sub-fields of sociology. Because it is so broad, many sociologists choose to specialize in a certain area.
Much of a sociologists time is spent gathering data and information from previous studies or research. They study census data, conduct polls and surveys, conduct interviews and collect and collate data any way they can. After collecting all the data, they need to write reports detailing their findings.
A sociology degree also allows graduates to move into other related fields, such as marketing, counseling, consulting, or many other options.
References
A Dictionary of Sociology (3rd Ed), John Scott & Gordon Marshall (eds), Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0198609868
Sociology (6th Ed), Giddens, Anthony, Polity Press, 2009
The Australian Sociological Association, http://www.tasa.org.au/what-is-sociology/, last checked March 7 2011
Joel Bickerton - Joel is a 23 year old university student from Melbourne Australia. He is currently completing a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in ...
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