Sociology is the study of human social behavior and its origins, development, organizations, and institutions.

[1] It is a social sciencewhich uses various methods of empirical investigation[2] and critical analysis[3] to develop a body of knowledge about human social actions, social structure and functions. A goal for many sociologists is to conduct research which may be applied directly to social policyand welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from themicro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure.[4] The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, culture, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, 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, environmental sociology, political economy and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.