The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the discipline of sociology: Sociology – the study of society using various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to understand human social activity, from the micro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and social structure.

Nature of sociology

Definition

Sociology can be described as all of the following:

Essence of sociology

Overall

Sociology

Key themes across sociological research

Branches of sociology

• Sociology of architecture • Sociology of art • Sociology of autism • Sociology of the body • Sociology of culture • Sociology of death • Sociology of deviance • Sociology of disaster • Sociology of education • Economic sociology • Sociology of emotions • Environmental sociology • Feminist sociology • Sociology of the family • Sociology of food • Sociology of gender • Sociology of generations • Sociology of health and illness • Sociology of human consciousness • Humanistic sociology • Sociology of immigration • Industrial sociology • Sociology of the Internet • Jealousy sociology • Sociology of Jewry • Sociology of knowledge • Sociology of language • Sociology of law • Sociology of leisure • Sociology of literature • Marxist sociology • Mathematical sociology • Medical sociology • Military sociology • Sociology of music • Real utopian sociology • Sociology of peace, war, and social conflict • Sociology of philosophy • Social psychology (sociology) • Public sociology • Sociology of punishment • Sociology of race and ethnic relations • Sociology of religion • Sociology of scientific knowledge (Sociology of the history of science) • Sociology of sociology • Sociology of space • Sociology of sport • Sociology of terrorism • Urban sociology • Visual sociology

Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fields involving sociology

• Agnotology • Anthrozoology • Area studies • Astrosociology • Behavioral economics • Communication studies • Community informatics • Critical management studies • Cultural studies • Demography • Development studies • Development theory • Disability studies • Environmental studies • Food studies • Futures studies • Gender studies • Geodemography • Global studies • Gerontology • Historical sociology • Human ecology • Internet studies • Leisure studies • Political ecology • Political sociology • Organizational studies • Science studies • Science, technology and society • Social architecture • Social construction of technology • Social engineering • Social epistemology • Social geography • Social informatics • Social philosophy • Social studies of finance • Sociobiology • Sociocybernetics • Sociolinguistics • Sociomusicology • Technology and society • Urban studies • Victimology • World-systems theory

History of sociology

• Timeline of sociology (1810s) • Timeline of sociology (1820s) • Timeline of sociology (1830s) • Timeline of sociology (1840s) • Timeline of sociology (1850s) • Timeline of sociology (1860s) • Timeline of sociology (1870s) • Timeline of sociology (1880s) • Timeline of sociology (1890s) • Timeline of sociology (1900s) • Timeline of sociology (1910s) • Timeline of sociology (1920s) • Timeline of sociology (1930s) • Timeline of sociology (1940s) • Timeline of sociology (1950s) • Timeline of sociology (1960s) • Timeline of sociology (1970s) • Timeline of sociology (1980s) • Timeline of sociology (1990s) • Timeline of sociology (2000s)

Theoretical perspectives in sociology

Approaches

Positivism

• Analytical sociology • Computational sociology • Logical positivism • Rational choice theory

Critical realist

• Relational sociology • Subtle realism

Structural

• Organizational theory • Sociocultural evolution • Structural functionalism • Systems theory • World-systems theory

Challenging structure

• Postmodernism • Poststructuralism • Social constructionism

Social interactions

• Dramaturgy (sociology) • Ethnomethodology • Figurational sociology • Phenomenology (sociology) • Symbolic interactionism

Behavioural

• Social exchange theory

Social justice

• Conflict theories • Feminist theory • Intersectionality • Marxism (Marxist sociology - Social conflict theory) • Postcolonialism & subaltern theory • Queer theory

Applied

• Policy sociology

Ecological

Levels of analysis

• Macrosociology • Mesosociology • Microsociology

Methodology and methods in sociology

• Comparative sociology • Content analysis • Discourse analysis • Ethnomethodology • Sociography • Sociomapping • Sociometry • Social experiment

General sociology concepts

• Attitude • Alienation • Beliefs • Bureaucracy • Collective behavior • Civil inattention • Civil rights • Crime • Commodity fetishism • Community (outline) • Consumption (consumerism) • Cultural capital • Culture (outline) • Discrimination • Division of labour • Equality (Social inequality) • Equity • Exploitation • Family • Freedom • Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft • Globalization • Group • Ideal type • Identity • Ideology • Industrialization • Inequality • Institution • Interpersonal relationship (outline) • Justice • Lifestyle • Mass media • Modernity • Nature versus nurture • Organization • Organizational behavior • Paradigm shift • Political economy • Popular culture • Postmodernity • Poverty • Power • Power-knowledge • Racism • Rationalisation • Reflexivity • Religion • Secularisation • Sexism • Social action • Social capital • Social change • Social class • Social complexity • Social conflict • Social construction • Social cohesion • Social control • Social criticism • Social environment • Social evolutionism • Social justice • Social media • Social mobility • Social movement • Social norm • Social network • Social order • Social organisation • Social problems • Social solidarity • Social status • Social stratification • Social structure • Social system • Social theory • Socialization • Society (outline) • Structure and agency • Sustainable development • Values • World view

Sociology by location

• Sociology in China • Sociology in Japan • Sociology in Poland • Sociology in Russia • Sociology in Turkey

Sociologists

Sociological publications

Sociology journals Magazines • Contexts • MANAS Journal • Polemic • Salmagundi • Youth Studies Australia Sociology books

Sociological associations

Sociological associations

Academies

• College of Sociology, Paris, 1937–39 • New School for Social Research, New York • Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, Chicago • Uzhhorod National University Department of Sociology and Social Work, Uzhhorod • Atlanta Sociological Laboratory, Atlanta, 1895–1924

Related fields

• Global studies • Law • Political science • Social anthropology/Cultural anthropology • Social history • Socioeconomics • Sociolinguistics • Social research