The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the discipline of sociology:
Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociology in the 20th century. After earning a PhD in economics, he served on the faculty at Harvard University from 1927 to 1929. In 1930, he was among the first professors in its new sociology department.
Rural sociology is a field of sociology traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas although topical areas such as food and agriculture or natural resource access transcend traditional rural spatial boundaries. It is an active field in much of the world, originating in the United States in the 1910s with close ties to the national Department of Agriculture and land-grant university colleges of agriculture.
An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge, taught and researched as part of higher education. A scholar's discipline is commonly defined by the university faculties and learned societies to which she or he belongs and the academic journals in which she or he publishes research.
Institutions, according to Samuel P. Huntington, are "stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior". Further, institutions can refer to mechanisms of social order, which govern the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community. Moreover, institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules that govern living behavior.. According to Geoffery M. Hodgson, it is misleading to say that an institution is a form of behavior. Instead, Hodgson states that institution are “integrated systems of rules that structure social interactions”.
The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society, is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Most members work in academia, but about 20 percent work in government, business, or non-profit organizations.
Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one, known as "New economic sociology".
The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociological organizations. The ISA was founded in 1949 under UNESCO and it has about 4,500 individual and 45 collective members, hailing from 167 countries. Its purpose is to "represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of their school of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion" and its objective is to "advance sociological knowledge throughout the world". Along with the Institut International de Sociologie (IIS), it is seen as a world leading international sociological organization.
The American Journal of Sociology is a peer-reviewed bi-monthly academic journal that publishes original research and book reviews in the field of sociology and related social sciences. It was founded in 1895 as the first journal in its discipline. The current editor is Elisabeth S. Clemens. For its entire history, the journal has been housed at the University of Chicago and published by the University of Chicago Press.
Contemporary Sociology is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal of sociology published by SAGE Publications in association with the American Sociological Association since 1972. Each issue of the journal publishes a large number of both in-depth and brief reviews of recent publications in sociology and related disciplines, as well as a list of publications received that have not been reviewed. In 2010 the journal published just under 400 book reviews. In addition, the journal also publishes a small number of review essays and discursive articles in each issue. The editor-in-chief is Michael Sauder.
The sociology of law is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. Some see sociology of law as belonging "necessarily" to the field of sociology, but others tend to consider it a field of research caught up between the disciplines of law and sociology. Still others regard it neither a subdiscipline of sociology nor a branch of legal studies but as a field of research on its own right within the broader social science tradition. Accordingly, it may be described without reference to mainstream sociology as "the systematic, theoretically grounded, empirical study of law as a set of social practices or as an aspect or field of social experience". It has been seen as treating law and justice as fundamental institutions of the basic structure of society mediating "between political and economic interests, between culture and the normative order of society, establishing and maintaining interdependence, and constituting themselves as sources of consensus, coercion and social control".
The American Sociological Review is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. The editors-in-chief are Omar Lizardo, Rory M. McVeigh, and Sarah Mustillo.
Evelyn Nakano Glenn is a Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities she serves as Founding Director of the University's Center for Race and Gender (CRG). The CRG is a leading U.S. academic center for the study of intersectionality among gender, race and class social groups and institutions. In June 2008 Prof. Glenn was elected President of the 15,000 member American Sociological Association. She served as President-elect during the 2008-2009 academic year, assumed her presidency at the annual ASA national convention in San Francisco in August 2009, served as President of the Association during the 2009-2010 year, and continued to serve on the ASA governing Council as Past-president until August 2011. Her Presidential Address, given at the 2010 meetings in Atlanta, was entitled "Constructing Citizenship: Exclusion, Subordination, and Resistance," and was printed as the lead article in the American Sociological Review.
Armand Lind Mauss is an American Sociologist specializing in the Sociology of Religion. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University and was the most frequently published author of Sociology works on Mormons during his long career. A special conference on his work in Mormon Studies was held in 2013 at California's Claremont Graduate University (CGU), the papers from which were subsequently published by the University of Utah Press in the format of a Festschrift, where he was honored as "one of the most prominent Mormon intellectuals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries" (ix).
Sociology is the scientific study of society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture of everyday life. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, acceptance, and change or social evolution. 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. Subject matter ranges from the micro-sociology level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure.
Modern Asian Studies is a bimonthly academic journal in the field of Asian studies, published by Cambridge University Press. It journal was established in 1967 by the Syndics of the University of Cambridge and the Committee of Directors of the Institute or Centres of Asian Studies in the universities of London, Cambridge, Hull, Leeds, and Sheffield. The journal covers the history, sociology, economics, and culture of modern Asia, including South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The editors-in-chief are Joya Chatterji and Norbert Peabody.
Irene Barnes Taeuber was an American demographer who worked for the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, where she edited the journal Population Index from 1936 to 1954. Her scholarly work is credited with helping to establish the science of demography.
Sociology is the methodological and scientific study of human society. It studies the social interactions between a person and society as well as the social patterns between societies, groups, nations, institutions, etc. Sociologists research the relationships between social structures and human lives. They also aim to solve the corresponding social issues revealed from the researches.
