Sociology

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Sociology

Sociology (pronounced soh-see-OL-uh-jee) is the scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture. The term is derived from the Latin word socius meaning "companion" or "associate" and the Greek -λογία (-logia) meaning "study of" or "science".

Etymology

The term "sociology" was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836) in an unpublished manuscript. However, the term was reinvented by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in 1838 to describe a new way of looking at society. Comte hoped to unify all the sciences under sociology; he believed sociology held the potential to improve society and direct human activity, including the other sciences.

Related Terms

  • Social Interaction: The process by which we act and react to those around us. In a nutshell, social interaction includes those acts people perform toward each other and the responses they give in return.
  • Social Relationships: These are any relationship between two or more individuals. Social relations derived from individual agency form the basis of social structure and the basic object for analysis by social scientists.
  • Culture: Culture is a term used by social scientists, like anthropologists and sociologists, to encompass all the facets of human experience that extend beyond our physical fact.
  • Social Structure: This is an abstract and intangible phenomenon. Individuals are the units of association and institutions are the units of social structure. These institutions and associations are interrelated in a particular arrangement and thus create the pattern of social structure.
  • Social Science: This is the branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of society", established in the 19th century.

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