What is Sociology?

Sociology involves the systematic examination of human social activity, from everyday face-to-face encounters to the movements of civilizations throughout history. Unlike disciplines that focus on a single aspect of society, sociology stresses the complex relationships governing all dimensions of social life, including the economy, state, family, religion, science, social inequality, culture and consciousness. Its inquiry is guided by several theoretical traditions and grounded in the empirical observation of social reality.

Sociology emerged in the nineteenth century as a response to the massive social changes associated with the rise of modern society in England, Germany, and France. Understanding the causes and consequences of modern, industrial life has thus been the peculiar focus of the discipline. But while the experiences of modern, Western societies gave rise to formal sociological inquiry, the insights to be gained from the discipline are not limited to this realm. For example, sociology has particular relevance for understanding global change, as much of the world engages in its own process of modernization. Moreover, sociologists maintain that their perspective, as well as many of their insights, are generalizable beyond the specific historical context in which they were first conceived.

Sociology is characterized as a discipline by several distinct modes of inquiry. First and foremost, sociology emphasizes human sociality as central to its pursuit. In this view, human action is to be understood within a web of social relationships and broader structures. Particular studies may focus on intimate, face-to-face interaction or on the movement of entire civilizations through history, but all sociology views human action in context. In this way, sociology distinguishes itself from psychology and some forms of political philosophy that consider the autonomous individual to be a meaningful unit of analysis. Sociology sees humans as fundamentally social.

Sociological inquiry is holistic in maintaining that human action can be understood only by linking it organically to the whole of social life. Social theories are central to sociological investigation, in part, because they provide comprehensive statements regarding the connections among the various facets of social life. While particular theories may emphasize certain forces (e.g., economic, cultural) as having greater significance in shaping society, as a discipline sociology seeks to understand the relationship among these forces within social life as a whole. In this way sociology may be distinguished from disciplines like economics and political science that focus on a particular dimension of social life as the center of their inquiry.

Sociological inquiry is analytical and structural. Sociology does not accept at face value common sense understandings or publicly stated positions about society; rather, it seeks to probe beneath the surface for the actual dynamics. The political implications that particular sociologists draw from such a critical understanding may vary from conservative to radical, but critique is common to all sociological analysis.

Sociology demands empirical evidence that links sociological ideas to lived experience. Sociologists employ a wide variety of techniques to collect and analyze the data of human experience, but all sociological knowledge must be grounded in some form of empirical or historical reality. In its demand for empirical foundations, sociology is appropriately regarded as a "science"--whether it is as an interpretive science concerned with meaning of social events and cultural values, as a historical science concerned with social institutions and structures, or as a positivistic science concerned with discovering explanatory laws of human behavior.

Finally, sociology is a morally engaged discipline. The substance of sociological inquiry has direct relevance for ethical issues regarding the human condition. Sociologists differ in whether or not they maintain that sociological inquiry can or should serve as a basis for establishing moral truths. Nevertheless, the systematic investigation of what is in our society, particularly those aspects of society that we identify as social problems, naturally raises ethical questions about how society should be. A distinctive aspect of sociology is the study of the conflicts and contradictions between social values and ideals, on the one hand, and social structures and reality on the other. In this way, sociology provides an important bridge between the objective inquiry of the natural sciences and the morally engaged approach common to the humanities.

As a discipline practiced by trained professionals, sociology breaks down into several subfields, reflecting the special interests of its practitioners. The American Sociological Association identifies several sections, many with their own publications and sessions at national professional meetings--religion, family, medical sociology, theory, an so on. Typically, upper-level courses in sociology programs are organized to reflect these interests.

Cutting across these specific interests are several dimensions that distinguish a number of fundamental approaches to sociological inquiry. The first dimension distinguishes between micro and macro sociology. Many sociologists focus microscopically on questions involving individual attitudes, self image, and behavior and the intimate environments in which these characteristics are expressed. Alternatively, other sociologists focus on macroscopic issues involving large-scale, complex institutions within the structure of society. Ultimately, a comprehensive sociological understanding of any subject must connect these two analytical modes.

A second distinction reflects the empirical inclinations of sociologists toward qualitative, quantitative, or historical research. Qualitative research attempts to capture the meanings people attribute to their actions in their natural context, typically through the use of techniques including participant observation and in-depth interviewing. Quantitative research may also tap these aspects of human experience, but it is characterized by observations that can be translated into numbers and analyzed mathematically. Historical research examines the particular context of social events using historical and philosophical methods.

A third dimension distinguishes sociologists on the basis of their chosen theoretical approach. Although no single theoretical tradition adequately answers all questions facing sociology, individual sociologists typically work within at least one theoretical tradition that best addresses the questions that interest them.

These dimensions and the variety of particular interests that distinguish sociology are reflected in Kenyon's faculty and curriculum. This is why it is important that the student pursuing sociology as a major take courses from all the faculty in the program. But beyond these differences in interest and approach, all the faculty in the program are united by a common adherence to the fundamental characteristics that define sociology as a whole.