Sociology

Course summary

Sociology is the study of groups of people (society) and how our environment shapes our behaviour. Sociology is the study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Sociologists study topics ranging from the micro level of individual faceto-face interaction to the macro level of societies and how they co-exist at large. Sociology is a broad discipline in terms of both methodology and subject matter. Common topics of study include: research methods, education, families and households, power and politics, mass media, religion, crime and deviance, stratification and globalisation. Key figures in Sociology are Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber.