### person | scientist | social scientist:

Sociologist
* All sociologists engage in analyzing ideas and data on how society works.
* Many sociologists believe gender is the most important division in society
  - social class is the most important division in society
  - recognize today that marriage great civilizer of unruly men
* Most sociologists read, conduct research, and write reports, articles, and books
  - study the groups which people form in their association with others
  - teach, do research, and write
  - utilize the deductive-inductive, or scientific , method in their researches
* Most sociologists work in a special field, such as criminology, urban studies, or the family
  - one or more specialties
* Some sociologists believe that deviance is socially defined
  - combine different research methods
* Some sociologists conduct research, others teach in schools, polytechnics and universities
  - surveys or social experiments
  - define religion as a belief system shared by a group of individuals
  - even go so far as to say the media shapes our personalities
  - feel that young people learn more from their peers than adults
  - focus on crime and law enforcement
  - have private practices in counseling, research, or consulting
* Some sociologists study how segments of society interrelate
  - social problems, deviant behavior, juvenile delinquency or criminology
  - work as organizers in social movement type organizations
* also focus on environmental issues
  - investigate how people, through interaction, sustain or change society
  - study the ways in which people, as they interact, shape their social systems
* also work in areas such as the media, public communications and marketing
  - the media, public communication and marketing
* analyze social institutions such as family, education, medicine, religion and politics.
* approach problem-solving with a wider orientation than other disciplines
  - their study of society in different ways based on their assumptions
* are also active in some subfields that are fully interdisciplinary
  - the product of cultural conditioning as people and as sociologists
  - careful to separate sex form gender
* are concerned with how social conditions influence our lives as individuals
  - the effect of social traits on daily life
  - understanding all aspects of society and social life
  - especially likely to be employed in the government or in the non-profit sector
  - human beings with deep emotions
* are interested in everything about the social world
  - religion in so far as religion takes institutional forms
  - understanding the social world
  - more inclined to use descriptive methodology
  - quick to point to cases of abuse and emotional injury
  - specialists
* argue for - population control on the basis of a shortage of housing, food, space, etc.
* assign people to upper, middle, and lower classes.
* attempt to identify patterns of behavior and to provide explanations for such patterns
  - understand the world of human relations
* believe social class is the most important division in society.
* blame it on the way that children are socialized from birth.
* claim that people have an in-built sensor for determining their status in a group.
* classify societies as either pre-industrial , industrial , or postindustrial
  - the Mexican society as high-context
* collect data to support all theories.
* commonly divide the areas of study within the field into macro and micro.
* conduct research in an objective, value-free way
  - on organizations, groups and individuals
* consider the everyday problems people encounter in their family and work lives.
* continue to research and debate the role of being male or female in our society.
* count the Italian family unit among the strongest in the world.
* develop conceptual and methodological tools to make sense of such experiences.
* differ in their own personal and characteristic approach to science.
* distinguish between racial and ethnic groups.
* do research, write, and teach.
* emphasize and examine the diversity of human experience
  - the larger societal forces
* examine the behaviour of people in society
  - complexities of racial and ethnic identity in America
* fight over whether heredity or instincts influence social behavior.
* follow the scientific method in conducting their research.
* have keen senses of observation and analysis, and abundant and natural curiosity.
* influence peoples lives through their research and public policy recommendations.
* investigate the causes of social problems, such as crime, poverty, and racism
  - structure of groups, organizations, and societies
* look at the social causes and consequences of behavior.
* often contrast sex with gender
  - debate the place of personal experiences in the classroom
  - define cults by their cultural idiosyncracies
  - use statistics to count and measure patterns in how people act or behave
* perform a wide variety of tasks.
* primarily engage in performing research in their area of sociological interest.
* pursue a general study of human behavior in the social setting.
* refer to social institutions or conventions that influence individuals behavior.
* report that denominationalism is declining in significance for congregational identity
  - people are ruder today than anytime in modern history
* say men tend to be violent against women when they feel their power eroding
  - teen rebellion part of what draws some teenagers to satanic cults
* say that more children are now living in single-parent homes than ever before
  - throughout history, marriage rates have varied
* see many similarities between deviant and nondeviant behavior
  - religion as that which provides an agreed way of looking at the world
* seek to describe and explain patterns of social change
  - develop self-knowledge
  - understand human behavior in the social context
* sometimes work for think tanks, for governmental agencies, for nonprofit groups, etc.
* speak about the institutional and the charismatic aspects of a community
  - of secularisation, philosophers of naturalism and materialism
* study everything from love and marriage to war and revolution
  - small informal groups to entire countries
* study how individuals are affected by each other and by the groups that they belong to
  - people relate to each other and how groups influence individuals
* study human behavior in industrialized societies
  - society and social behaviour
  - people in natural, everyday settings, as well as in controlled settings
  - people, their organizations, and their cultures
  - social organization
  - the behavior and interaction of groups, tracing their origin and growth
* suggest that our actions are shaped by the context in which they occur.
* talk about feeling the walls of an institution.
* teach and conduct research.
* tend to argue that the problem is one of environment
  - use assimilation , while anthropologists prefer the term acculturation
* try to stand back and look at human interaction from a broad perspective.
* typically focus on patterned and group behaviors.
* usually conduct surveys or engage in direct observation to gather data.
* view the market as a social construction.
* warn of losing an entire generation of youth to poverty-related diseases.
* work in a wide range of areas, in government, private and community sectors
  - business, government, social service and education
  - one or more special fields
* write libraries about gemeinschafts and gesellschafts.
+ Sociology, What do sociologists do?
  * Many sociologists also do research outside of the university. Their research helps teachers, lawmakers, and government administrators to make better institutions, government programs, and rules.
  * Sociologists often use statistics to count and measure patterns in how people act or behave. Sociologists also interview people or hold group discussions to find out why people behave in certain ways. Some sociologists combine different research methods.