Karl Marx once wrote that, "Sociology is a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects." No wonder the general public is clueless. In simpler terms, sociology is a science that attempts to explain social phenomenon. It is a broad field of inquiry that covers every facet of social existence from the smallest group interaction to large-scale social institutions.
Perhaps the best explanation of the task of sociology comes from sociologist C. Wright Mills who coined the term "sociological imagination." According to Mills, "the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society." Using the sociological imagination, sociologists can place the personal troubles of individuals within a framework of larger social issues. For instance, a couple may divorce. That is a personal problem and is usually resolved with the help of attorneys. However, divorce is not a problem unique to individuals. Divorce is a societal problem and, therefore, is subject to study by sociologists. Sociologists will attempt to explain the societal causes of divorce with factors such as its declining stigma, the breakdown of dependency on male breadwinners and unemployment trends.
According to sociologists, George Ritzer and Douglas J. Goodman, sociology is a discipline that emerged out of the bloody chaos of the French Revolution. The earliest sociologists, Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim for instance, were obsessed with the idea of social order. The rise of sociology also coincided with the sweeping changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of capitalism. The task of sociology at the time was identifying and finding solutions to the problems that arose from rapid social change.
In sociology, there are three traditional paradigms: structural functionalism, conflict and symbolic interactionism. A paradigm is an interpretive lens. If you had three sociologists and each used a different paradigm to look at an issue, you would end up with three very different theories as to its cause. Structural functionalism was the first school of thought in sociology. Sociologists who subscribed to this way of thinking viewed the existing social order as positive. For them, society was composed of interconnected institutions. Conflict theorists emerged to challenge the status quo loving structural functionalists by raising questions of social justice and the unequal distribution of power and resources. The last paradigm and the most recent is symbolic interactionism. Theorists in this camp tend to look at smaller level interactions and the subjective meanings individuals subscribe to them.
As stated before, sociology has a broad scope. Almost anyone can find something that interests them within the field. Sociologists study such diverse topics as sports, medicine, biology, sexuality, economic systems and family groups. In fact, there is no end to what can be evaluated using sociology as a base. It is limited only by an individual's sociological imagination.