What Is Sociology?
Sociology is an academic discipline studying the development, functioning, and interaction of overall human behavior. Sociology analyzes human social relationships and the institutions governing various aspects of human life. Its subject matter is diverse, covering different components: the family, state, religion, race, social class, cultures, social stability, and social change.
At the personal level, sociology explores love, religious faith, aging, deviant behavior, family conflict, and gender and racial identity. It tries to explain poverty, crime, discrimination, education, social movements, and the urban community at the community level. Last, at the global level, Sociology examines aspects, including war and peace, migration, population growth, and economic diversity.
A sociologist is a professional who examines these elements. Among their duties, they develop research studies to examine and test theories on social issues. These studies collect data using observation, surveys, and interviews. They analyze such data and draw conclusions.
Additionally, sociologists prepare presentations and reports and publish articles based on their studies’ findings. Moreover, they work with key stakeholders, such as other social scientists and policymakers, to implement recommendations based on their studies.
When studying human social interactions, social events, and patterns, sociologists develop theories to explain how things occur and why they do. A theory is a statement explaining different social interaction components, resulting in a testable framework called a hypothesis. Sociologists, like other scientists, test such hypotheses to explain various phenomena.
Sociology has three main sociological theories: symbolic interactionism, structural functionalism, and conflict theory. Symbolic interactionism is a micro-sociological theory that tries to explain phenomena while examining the dynamics affecting small human groups. This theory argues that human behavior borrows from its symbolic meanings and definitions of varying things.
Therefore, according to the theory, the meanings people attach to different elements depend on how they label others and how others label them. In turn, such meanings affect how they relate with themselves and behave towards others, whether the meanings are correct or not.
Structural functionalism is a macro-sociology theory that looks at society as a whole. It doesn’t study small distinct human groups. It centers on the relationships existing among various societal systems. It explains how different parts work together to maintain order and balance in society. Some parts include education, knowledge, culture, and religion and how they shape human interactions.
Structural functionalism studies phenomena such as poverty and wealth and how social structures contribute to their existence. For instance, it examines how education and religious institutions play a role in developing wealth and poverty mindsets among individuals.
Conflict theory displays neither micro nor macro-sociology perspectives. Symbolic interactionism and structural functionalism both show how various social elements cooperate, attempting to explain why human beings behave how they do. On the other hand, conflict theory examines human behavior as a product of different groups of people and individuals with competing interests. Karl Marx, a German philosopher, developed this theory after studying economic development.
He noticed that economic development resulting from industrialization created two human classes. The bourgeoisie owned the means of producing goods and services while the proletariat worked for the former. This created a disproportionate system placing one group on top of another. Since the proletariat depended on the bourgeoisie for wages and salaries, the latter could influence social institutions to favor them.
Karl Marx’s conflict theory explains many other non-class-related instances of humans competing for different interests. For example, various religious, political, or gender groups may conflict as they try to fulfill the interests only desirable to their groups.
