# Outline of sociology

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:
* The study of society.
* Academic discipline – body of knowledge given to - or received by - a disciple (student); a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, that an individual has chosen to specialise in.
* Field of science – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer reviewed research is published. There are many sociology-related scientific journals.
** Social science – field of academic scholarship that explores aspects of human society.

### Essence of sociology
#### Overall

Sociology

#### Key themes across sociological research

* Society
* Globalization
* Human behavior
* Human environmental impact
* Identity
* Industrial revolutions 3 & 4
* Social complexity
* Social environment
* Social equality
* Social equity
* Social power
* Social stratification
* Social structure

## 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
* Historical sociology
* 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

* History of sociology
* Timeline 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

* Positivism (Empirical sociology)
* Analytical sociology
* Computational sociology
* Logical positivism
* Rational choice theory

#### Critical realist

* Critical realism
* Relational sociology
* Subtle realism

#### Structural

* Structuralism
* 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

* Psychoanalytic sociology
* Social exchange theory

#### Social justice

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

#### Applied

* Pure sociology
* Policy sociology

#### Ecological

* Human ecology

### 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

* List of 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