sociology

From French sociologie, coined by Auguste Comte in 1834, itself a combination of Latin socius (“companion, fellowship”) and the Greek suffix Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía), itself from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, knowledge”).

Previous mentions of the field in English usually referred to it as social physics.[1]

• enPR: sō-shē-ŏl′-əjē
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsəʊsiːˈɒlədʒiː/, /ˌsəʊʃiːˈɒlədʒiː/

sociology (plural sociologies)

1. A social science that studies society, human social interaction, patterns of social relationships, and the interactions of culture. Through both theory and applied research, it engages subject matters across a range of microanalysis, mesoanalysis, and macroanalysis.

• See also Thesaurus:sociology

• sociologist

• anthropology
• psychology

• "sociology" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 295.