Social science is one of the branches of science,devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology,the original "science of society",established in the 19th century. In addition to sociology,it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines,including anthropology,archaeology,economics,human geography,linguistics,management science,communication science and political science.
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to humans' particular use of shared language to create common symbols and meanings,for use in both intra- and interpersonal communication. According to Macionis,symbolic interactionism is "a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals". In other words,it is a frame of reference to better understand how individuals interact with one another to create symbolic worlds,and in return,how these worlds shape individual behaviors. It is a framework that helps understand how society is preserved and created through repeated interactions between individuals. The interpretation process that occurs between interactions helps create and recreate meaning. It is the shared understanding and interpretations of meaning that affect the interaction between individuals. Individuals act on the premise of a shared understanding of meaning within their social context. Thus,interaction and behavior is framed through the shared meaning that objects and concepts have attached to them. From this view,people live in both natural and symbolic environments.
George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher,sociologist,and psychologist,primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago. He was one of the key figures in the development of pragmatism. He is regarded as one of the founders of symbolic interactionism,and was an important influence on what has come to be referred to as the Chicago School of Sociology.
Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality,including understanding their attitudes,beliefs,and motivation. This type of research typically involves in-depth interviews,focus groups,or observations in order to collect data that is rich in detail and context. Qualitative research is often used to explore complex phenomena or to gain insight into people's experiences and perspectives on a particular topic. It is particularly useful when researchers want to understand the meaning that people attach to their experiences or when they want to uncover the underlying reasons for people's behavior. Qualitative methods include ethnography,grounded theory,discourse analysis,and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative research methods have been used in sociology,anthropology,political science,psychology,communication studies,social work,folklore,educational research and software engineering research.
Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist and the son of Michigan Supreme Court Judge Thomas M. Cooley. He studied and went on to teach economics and sociology at the University of Michigan,was a founding member of the American Sociological Association in 1905 and became its eighth president in 1918. He is perhaps best known for his concept of the looking-glass self,which is the concept that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. Cooley's health began to deteriorate in 1928. He was diagnosed with an unidentified form of cancer in March 1929 and died two months later.
A longitudinal study is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time. It is often a type of observational study,although it can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiment.
William Isaac Thomas was an American sociologist,understood today as a key figure behind the theory of symbolic interactionism.
The life course approach,also known as the life course perspective or life course theory,refers to an approach developed in the 1960s for analyzing people's lives within structural,social,and cultural contexts. The origins of this approach can be traced back to pioneering studies of the 1920s such as William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's The Polish Peasant in Europe and America and Karl Mannheim's essay on the "Problem of Generations".
In sociology,social psychology studies the relationship between the individual and society. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field of psychology,sociological social psychology places relatively more emphasis on the influence of social structure and culture on individual outcomes,such as personality,behavior,and one's position in social hierarchies. Researchers broadly focus on higher levels of analysis,directing attention mainly to groups and the arrangement of relationships among people. This subfield of sociology is broadly recognized as having three major perspectives:Symbolic interactionism,social structure and personality,and structural social psychology.
Howard Washington Odum was an American sociologist and author who researched African-American life and folklore. Beginning in 1920,he served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina,founding the university press,the journal Social Forces,and what is now the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science,all in the 1920s. He also founded the university's School of Public Welfare,one of the first in the Southeast. With doctorates in psychology and sociology,he wrote extensively across academic disciplines,influencing several fields and publishing three novels in addition to 20 scholarly texts. He was white.
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society,human social behavior,patterns of social relationships,social interaction,and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. In simple words sociology is the scientific study of society. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change. While some sociologists conduct research that may be applied directly to social policy and welfare,others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Subject matter can range from micro-level analyses of society to macro-level analyses.
Janet Zollinger Giele is an American sociologist and Professor Emerita of Sociology,Social Policy,and Women's Studies at Brandeis University. She is best known for her research on the evolving lives of women,from the 19th century women's rights movements to women's contemporary work and family roles. In addition,her publications include the methodology of life course research and the history and growth of American family policy. She has written or edited ten books and authored numerous articles,a body of work that has been widely cited in her field.
Gerald S. Handel was an American sociologist who served as Professor Emeritus of Sociology at The City College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He earned A.B.,A.M and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Chicago,where he was influenced by the Symbolic Interactionist ideas of George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley.
Frank Folke Furstenberg Jr. is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Sociology,Emeritus,at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the family in the context of disadvantaged urban neighborhoods and adolescent sexual behavior. Furstenberg has written extensively on social change,transition to adulthood,divorce,remarriage and intergenerational relations. Furstenberg is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine,American Academy of Arts and Sciences,and American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Karen Schweers Cook is an American sociologist and the Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology at Stanford University.
Norman Kent Denzin was an American professor of sociology. He was an emeritus professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,where he was research professor of communications,College of Communications scholar,professor of sociology,professor of cinema studies,professor in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. Denzin's academic interests included interpretive theory,performance studies,qualitative research methodology,and the study of media,culture and society.
Melvin Seeman was an American social psychologist and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA). He is known for researching social isolation. Seeman turned 100 in February 2018.
Stephen Thomas Russell is an American sociologist. He is the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor in Child Development at University of Texas at Austin. Russell was a distinguished professor and Fitch Nesbitt Endowed Chair in Family and Consumer Sciences at University of Arizona from 2007 to 2015. He researches adolescent development,sexuality,LGBT youth,and parent-adolescent relationships.
Kathleen Marian Charmaz was the developer of constructivist grounded theory,a major research method in qualitative research internationally and across many disciplines and professions. She was professor emerita of sociology at Sonoma State University,Rohnert Park,California,and former director of its Faculty Writing Program. Charmaz’s background was in occupational therapy and sociology. Charmaz’s areas of expertise included grounded theory,symbolic interactionism,chronicity,death and dying,qualitative health research,scholarly writing,sociological theory,social psychology,research methods,health and medicine,aging,sociology of emotions,and the body.
John Adam Clausen was an American sociologist and academic. After holding various positions during the 1940s,Clausen joined the National Institute of Mental Health in 1948 as a research consultant. With the institute,he led an environmental social science research laboratory he created from 1951 to 1960. As a part of the NIMH,he also conducted research on schizophrenia and mental health. In 1960,Cluasen became a sociology professor for the University of California,Berkeley and continued to teach until his retirement in 1982.
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