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Definition of "sociology" []

  • The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society. (noun)
  • Analysis of a social institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "sociology" in a sentence
  • "I do not deny that sociology, in the department of purely descriptive anatomy of the social organism, has made great and fruitful new contributions to contemporary science, even developing into some specialized branches of sociology, of which _criminal sociology_, thanks to the labors of the Italian school, has become one of the most important results."
  • "Richard recently graduated with a bachelor's in sociology from the University of Maryland."
  • "The term sociology was coined by [[Auguste Comte]] in 1839."