Community sociology studies people in a community, which can refer to a city, age group, or entire state. Sociologists focus on how people behave towards each other, treat strangers, and interact during crises. They may study a single, small community or a larger group connected by a common feature. Objectivity is important in understanding community behavior and can help people communicate and live more peacefully.
Community sociology is the study of people in a particular community. It is usually seen as a very complicated topic because the definition of a community is so broad. The term can refer to a certain city or to a certain age group in a specific city. It can also include people in an entire city or state. Most types of community sociology focus on a single community and study its internal workings. Sociologists are usually interested in how people in communities behave towards each other, treat strangers, and how they interact during times of crisis and calm.
Those who study the sociology of communities often narrow their focus to a single, very small community of people. This means that such a social scientist could study a community without overlapping another sociologist’s research area. For example, two scientists studying the same city might focus on two very different communities. One might focus on the city’s teenagers, while another studies the women there. Each sociologist could also choose a certain age group or niche within these communities to focus on.
Other types of community sociology might look at much larger groups. For example, an expert might focus on the lesbian women’s community in the United States. This is an example of a community connected by a common feature rather than a cliché. Communities like this are part of what can make community sociology so insightful and complicated. Also, in this example, a sociologist could easily divide the US lesbian community into smaller groups such as African-American lesbians, Christian lesbians, and Muslim lesbians. Often, each of these subcommunities has different values, desires, needs, and causes.
When conducting community sociology research, the sociologist usually begins by examining how community members behave. For example, a group of teenagers in a small rural town might disrespect those over 18, have fun outside curfew, and have poor grades. The sociologist could then examine why this community behaves this way. In this example, the adolescent behavior could result from a lack of adequate stimulation. In other words, they may get bored in school and feel unable to express themselves in a healthy way.
The above findings on adolescent behavior illustrate why objectivity is important in community sociology. Every community has a reason for its actions and behaviors, even if those behaviors are harmful to others. The reasons probably make a lot of sense to the community itself, even if those outside of it don’t understand. Community sociology can be applied to helping people communicate with each other and live more peacefully.
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