Sociology is the study of human group life.
It explores the processes by which people fit their activities together. For example, it studies how children acquire the habits of their groups, how adults deal with conflicts, how misfits are punished, how social rankings are maintained, and how entire societies industrialize. Students in other fields may gain from Sociology a clearer view of the human condition. In the range of topics that it covers, Sociology is an extraordinarily broad area. However, sociologists pose characteristic kinds of questions, and by limiting the scope of their questions they define the boundaries of their discipline.