Sociology
The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality and deviance.
As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as health, medical, military and penalinstitutions, the Internet, education, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.
- Social stratification- a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.
- a societies catorigation of people into socioeconomic strata based upon their occupation and income.
In the United States, it is perfectly clear that some groups have greater status, power, and wealth than other groups. These differences are what lead to social stratification. Social stratification is based on four major principles:
- Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences
- Social stratification persists over generations
- Social stratification is universal (it happens everywhere) but it takes different forms across different societies
- Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well (inequality is rooted in a society's philosophy)
- Social class- a group of people of similar status, commonly sharing comparable levels of power and wealth.
- Social mobility - the movement if individuals, families, households, or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society.
- Religion-is a system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden (beliefs and practices which untie into one single moral community).
- Secularization- is a process of social change through which the public influence of religion and religious thinking declines as it is replaced by other ways of explaining reality and regulating social life.
- example: in industrial societies, where secularization has progressed the furthest, science has replaced religion as the primary approach to understanding the natural world while civil law and the state have replaced religion as a source of social control.
- Law- an approach within legal studies, or a field of research in its own right, it remains intellectually dependent mainly on the traditions, methods and theories of mainstream sociology and, to a lesser extent on the other social sciences
- Sexuality- describes sexual identity, attraction, and experiences which may or may not align with sex and gender.
- this includes but is not limited to heterosexuality, homosexuality (gay or lesbian), bisexuality, queer and so on. (sex and gender don't always align)
- sex- the biological traits that society associates with being male of female
- gender- is the cultural meanings attached to being masculine and feminine; these influence personal identities across a wide spectrum.
- Deviance- describes an action or behavior that violates social norms, including a formally enacted rule, as well as informal violations of social norms.
- committing crimes, rejecting folkways, and more
- Health - studies the interaction between society and health.
- sociologists examine how social life impacts morbidity and how morbidity and mortality rates impact society.
- also looks at health and illness in relation to social institutions such as the family, work, school, and religion as well as the causes of diseases and illness, reasons for seeking particular types of care and patient compliance and noncompliance
- Medical- the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledge and selection of methods, the action and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural (rather than clinical or bodily) effects of medical practice.
- Punishment-
- Institutions -
- The Internet -
- Education-
Psychology
Psychologists explore concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, intelligence, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships, including psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas.
- Perception - the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
- Cognition
- Attention
- Emotions - An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response
- subjective experience
- physiological response
- behavioral or expressive response
- Intelligence
- Phenomenology
- Motivation
- Brain functioning
- Personality
- Behavior
- Interpersonal relationships
- psychological resilience
- family resilience
