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This is based on notes on the Sociology article talk page.

Contents 1 Outline of Sociology article 1.1 Introduction 1.2 History 1.3 The sociological perspective 1.4 Scope and topics of Sociology 1.5 Sub-disciplines 1.6 Social theory (or sociological theory) 1.7 Social research 1.8 Sociology and other academic fields 1.9 Applied sociology 1.10 See also 1.11 References 1.12 Further reading 1.13 External links 2 Notes on Sociology article

[edit] Outline of Sociology article

[edit] Introduction

[edit] History

• Institutionalizing Sociology
• Positivism and anti-positivism
• Twentieth century developments

• Notes:
  • Discuss general historical trends.
  • Include more on origins - 19th c. trends (soc of knowledge take -- or save for history article)

[edit] The sociological perspective

[edit] Scope and topics of Sociology

There are a number of main sociological themes and concepts. (Group and put these into series. Borrow summary sentences from (?) and point to, or simply link to, any articles on the the following)

• Culture
• Relationship
• Power
• Socialization
• Structure and agency

• Class
• Gender
• Race

• Family
• Organizations
• Institution
• Networks
• Cities
• Globalization
• etc

[edit] Sub-disciplines

(was "Focus of Sociology") (I think this should be seperate from the above -- the above cut across all the sub-disciplines. Further, it needs to be noted how some fields grew, at least partly, out of sociology and co-exist, to an extent, synergetically with socilogy, such as: criminology, demographics, peace studies, women's studies, etc.

• Overview of main content areas and sub-disciplines
• Include major new emerging foci, such as network society and globalization (include here are in perspectives above).

[edit] Social theory (or sociological theory)

[I think this abstract section should come after the history, themes and sub-disciplines sections. The previous sections give some context and content for discussing this key dimension of sociology.]

Many social sciences use similar general theoretical perspectives. These include: list... At the same time, Sociologists have developed specific paradigms for understanding society and organizing research (again, in interaction with work in other fields). These include:

• Structural functionalism
• Conflict theories
• Symbolic interactionism
• Social constructionism [phenomenology (social phenomenology variant) -- included under constructionism]

• Social theory (moved from other social science section) - summarize and point to general social theory issues, including:
  • Critical theory
  • Postmodern theory
  • Race gender class theory
  • Rational choice

[edit] Social research

• Methods of sociological inquiry
• Combining research methods
  • Should reframed as a part of a new subsection: doing resarh or some such

[edit] Sociology and other academic fields

(was "Sociology and other social sciences")

[edit] Applied sociology

[edit] See also

• Lists
• Related topics

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes on Sociology article

• Misc. notes are mixed in the outline above.
• See Economics, Physics and Psychology for article outline and organization ideas.
• Use some common references and new overview works of aspects of the field by major contemporary sociologists. (To do: Create list of works here or below.)
• Include footnotes and references as write.
• Start with the themes and theory sections. Coordinate with editing of, and borrowing from, related pages, e.g., social theory.
• Next: work on sub-disc., history and/or research sections