Welcome to Sociology! Sociologists explore how human interaction shapes our society, and, in turn, how social institutions influence decision-making. At UMass, Sociology is a big tent encompassing studies of the self and the intersection of personal biography with social forces, of social institutions like the family and workplaces, of collective behavior and social movements, and of world systems such as globalization. A hallmark of Sociology is that it examines theoretical arguments with empirical data.