What Is Sociology

What is sociology?
Sociology is the study of how society is organised and how we experience life. Sociology examines how our behavior individually and in groups is influenced by social processes and what that means. 
Sociology studies people in their everyday environments at every level. Sociologists study a variety of things including human interaction which means people’s behavior with others in any situation for example, a teacher with their students. These interactions and roles lead to social institutions such as family or mass media. These institutions all form the social structure which is linked to the way in which a whole society is organised. Sociologists have advanced theories about how society works, this is due to the fact that it is a controversial issue where sociologists have different opinions and so different perspectives about how society works. Sociology involves looking at social trends and patterns of behavior e.g. different behavior’s in a classroom and different explanations for things.
Within sociology, there are many different theories created by sociologists such as Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx, who all worked in the 19th / early 20th centuries. Emile Durkheim believed that sociology was a separate science from other subjects and should concern itself with the scientific study of social facts. Max Weber was concerned with studying sociology from the point of view of social actions. Karl Marx believed that everything that happens in society is as a result of economic relationships between people.
Within sociology, there are 3 main areas that are recognised, social structures, social systems and social issues. Structures include the family and education, systems such as culture and identity and issues like crime and unemployment.
There are 4 main theoretical areas within sociology; they are Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism and Interactionism. Functionalists believe that society can be compared to a living organ, in which...