Sociologists use their critical thinking skills to analyze data. They study a particular group of people, reviewing how they live, react, and interact with one another. They review information, surveys, and statistics from social anthropologists who observe and document how people go about their daily lives in their particular group, culture, and society. Social anthropologists observe how particular organizational structures affect people, and gather information on personal and social relationships. Sociologists analyze and draw conclusions from the data and information.
Psychologists ask questions to determine what is going on in the mind of a single individual. Sociologists ask basic questions that deal with fundamentals of society or a particular group as a whole. Although a psychologist may ask what a person thinks about a relationship, the sociologist asks about the need for certain relationships, such as marriage. Sociologists ask questions about the basic pillars on which a group, culture or society is built and functions. They go beyond surface questions to think critically about fundamentals many never question. Sociologists ask about the values and symbols that underlie a culture and whether different cultures share certain norms or similarities.
Three separate assumptions or ways of viewing humankind underlie sociology -- order, pluralism, and conflict. Assumptions of order assert humans tend toward privacy and self-interest. Although they are passionate, humans can exert self-control. Social constructs help humans work together and prevent anarchy. Pluralism assumes that although humans act with intent, outside factors do influence them, but humans remain sovereign persons who choose to remain or refrain from a social contract. The assumption of conflict is all about the public persona of cooperation. In this view, humans do not have choices, many of which are made for them by their location, family, society, and other factors. People become human by their actions and choices such as education and work.
According to "Sociology Guide" on the scope of the discipline, "there are two schools of thought with different viewpoints regarding scope and subject matter of sociology -- formal school and synthetic school." The formal sociological school of thought holds that sociology is a social science with a field of study that is a specific, defined discipline. Those who hold to this formal view think this discipline's purpose is to analyze, classify, delineate, and describe social relationships. The synthetic school of thought believes in coordination of learning, knowledge, and cooperation among the different social sciences. The synthetic thought looks for general social laws.