Sculpture of Karl Marx (in the foreground) and Friedrich Engels.
Sociology courses range from positivism to antipositivism and from functionalism to conflict theory. Other sociology courses, such as contemporary social theory, economic sociology, and criminology, help students study the role of social behavior in governments and people. Political sociology is another type of sociology course that attempts to answer the questions of why some humans do not participate in electing officials and passing laws. Sociology is the study of society and the people in it.
Many people seeking a career in law enforcement pursue degrees in sociology.
Most sociology courses focus on the study of people and try to answer questions about the behavior and actions of members of any society. Positivism is one of the oldest ways of studying society and is centered on the belief that only the scientific method can be used to explain the actions of society. Positivism asserts that the only true knowledge is verifiable scientific knowledge.
The first sociologists linked sociology with the natural sciences. They argued, through positivism, that the social sciences are logical extensions of the natural sciences. As such, they must maintain the same objectivity, rationalism, and causality in trying to explain the behavior of a society that is used to explain any other group action that may occur in nature.
Other sociology courses, such as antipositivism, argue that society cannot be judged in the same way as other forms of nature due, in part, to the ability of humans to make decisions and form beliefs independently of science. The functionalism type of sociology course studies the actions of society as a necessary requirement to enable societies to function as intended. Conflict theory is another type of sociology course that focuses on your beliefs about the struggle between opposing forces within society, such as master and slave, oppressor and oppressed, and king and servant. This is also known as Marxist theory as Karl Marx adhered to this school of thought.
The end of the 1960s ushered in a new course of study for the sociologist, this new sociology course focused on contemporary social theory. One of the most notable theories to emerge from this course of study is the structuralist movement. This course examines the structure of the social system as a whole. Other courses in the field of sociology are social organization, social psychology, and social change and dysfunction, which studies crime, juvenile delinquency, and drug addiction. Other social phenomena such as divorce, prostitution, and the death penalty are studied in this type of sociology course.