Sociology

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Sociology is the study of societies and how humans act in groups. Sociology is a social science. People who study sociology are called sociologists. A society is the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in 1780 was first to use the term. The problems caused by the change to an industrial society, where many people moved to cities and worked in factories, were an early focus of sociology. Auguste Comte, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim were leading figures in the study of social phenomena. Themes included: community, authority, status, alienation and lack of power.

In the 2000s, some sociologists look at such things as: race, ethnicity, class, gender, the family and social interaction. They also study the breakdown of social structures; crime and divorce.