Include more on origins - 19th c. trends (soc of knowledge take -- or save for history article)
The sociological perspective
Scope and topics of Sociology
There are a number of main sociological themes and concepts. (Group and put these into series. Borrow summary sentences from (?) and point to, or simply link to, any articles on the the following)
Culture
Relationship
Power
Socialization
Structure and agency
Class
Gender
Race
Family
Organizations
Institution
Networks
Cities
Globalization
etc
Sub-disciplines
(was "Focus of Sociology")
(I think this should be seperate from the above -- the above cut across all the sub-disciplines. Further, it needs to be noted how some fields grew, at least partly, out of sociology and co-exist, to an extent, synergetically with socilogy, such as: criminology, demographics, peace studies, women's studies, etc.
Overview of main content areas and sub-disciplines
Include major new emerging foci, such as network society and globalization (include here are in perspectives above).
Social theory (or sociological theory)
[I think this abstract section should come after the history, themes and sub-disciplines sections. The previous sections give some context and content for discussing this key dimension of sociology.]
Many social sciences use similar general theoretical perspectives. These include: list... At the same time, Sociologists have developed specific paradigms for understanding society and organizing research (again, in interaction with work in other fields). These include:
Structural functionalism
Conflict theories
Symbolic interactionism
Social constructionism [phenomenology (social phenomenology variant) -- included under constructionism]
Social theory (moved from other social science section) - summarize and point to general social theory issues, including:
Critical theory
Postmodern theory
Race gender class theory
Rational choice
Social research
Methods of sociological inquiry
Combining research methods
Should reframed as a part of a new subsection: doing resarh or some such
Use some common references and new overview works of aspects of the field by major contemporary sociologists. (To do: Create list of works here or below.)
Include footnotes and references as write.
Start with the themes and theory sections. Coordinate with editing of, and borrowing from, related pages, e.g.,
social theory.
Next: work on sub-disc., history and/or research sections