What is Sociology? Have you ever wondered what role sociology plays in your life? Are you influenced by what you see in films, television or advertising? Do you use the Internet, go on Facebook, ask Google questions, visit chat sites or read blogs? These are just a few of the many life situations that can help you shed light on sociology and its role in your life. What is sociology? Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups. Sociology simply focuses on social relationships; how a relationship can influence people's behavior; and how societies, the sum total of these relationships, develop and change (Schaefer, page 5). As an eminent sociologist, C. Wright Mills described the best way to understand sociology through the sociological imagination, which is the awareness of the relationship between an individual and the larger society, both today and in the past (Mills [1959 ] 2000a) (Schaefer, page 5). With the sociological imagination, we are able to move beyond our personal experiences and observations to understand broader public issues. An example would be divorce, a difficulty for husband and wife. Would this be considered a social concern or an individual problem?C. Wright Mills states that, using the sociological imagination, divorce can be seen as a social issue. From this we can see that an increase in the divorce rate actually redefines an important institution: the family. Families now include stepparents and step-siblings whose parents have divorced and remarried. Through these complexities of the blended family, this once private concern becomes a public issue that can impact schools, government agencies, businesses, and religious institutions. (Schaef...... middle of paper ...... talk to our friends, family, join a club, become a member of a group, be it a sports group or a religious group. We have multiple perspectives that we can use that can help us along the way, as listed in paragraph eight, The functionalist perspective, The conflict perspective, The interactionist perspective and The feminist perspective can offer a way of seeing and understanding the social part of life world in which we live and shape our lives; it looks beyond our normal views of reality where it could provide a deeper understanding of social life. When we understand the particular perspectives, social theories and research methods, we can see that sociology is the discipline that expands our awareness of the human cultures, institutions, and social relationships that shape both our lives and human history.