Sociology – the study of humans in society – attempts to capture, perhaps more than any other discipline, the rich variety and complexity of human social life. Indeed, it is difficult to think of any area of social existence that a sociologist wouldn’t be interested in examining, from the most intimate of personal relationships, to the worldwide circulation of ideas, beliefs, goods and people.

Sociologists are generally encouraged to cultivate a ‘sociological imagination’. This is the ability to see our own lives and the lives of those we study, as intrinsically linked to wider social processes and structures. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the relationships we form, the pets we keep, the money we use, the consumables we buy, the languages we speak, the ambitions we pursue, and even the opinions we hold, are all dependent on the particular historical and social context in which we find ourselves. This context is the wellspring of sociology.

With the study of social life at its heart, the scope of sociology is almost limitless. Its subject matter encompasses family life, education, crime, work, war, religion, capitalism, power, food, leisure, love, health, sleep, the body, the self, human and animal relations, art, tourism and the media, to name just a few. Sociology also has an abiding concern with the main markers of social difference in modern society – class, gender, ‘race’/ethnicity, age, sexuality and (dis)ability – and how these often intersect in shaping the life chances and experiences of individuals.  https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/prospective/ugstudy/whatissociology/