Sociology as a Discipline

The groups within which we spend our lives—in our families, schools, communities,
workplaces, and societies—help to define us in the eyes of others, while defining us to
ourselves as well.

Sociologists possess a quality of mind that helps them to use scientific knowledge and
logical reasoning in order to develop understandings of what is going on in the world.

Sociology is a discipline that makes it possible to see how individual experiences—how

we act, think, feel, and remember—are connected to the wider society.

To understand human experience better, we must understand all that we can about
groups and social relationships.

Sociologists examine the shared meanings that humans attach to their interactions with
one another, and they study human experience as it unfolds within societies over time.
They study social patterns that are stable and also those that are changing.