Definition of maintenance for Students. 1  1 : the act of keeping or providing for : the state of being kept or provided for One of government's jobs is the maintenance of law and order. 2  2 : upkeep Workers in charge of maintenance painted the building.
SOCIOLOGY is: 1  the study of society. 2  a social science involving the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies. 3  the study of our behavior as social beings, covering everything from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes.
Sociologists study social events, interactions, and patterns. They then develop theories to explain why these occur and what can result from them. In sociology, a theory is a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create testable propositions about society (Allan 2006). For example, early in the development of sociology, Ãmile Durkheim was interested in explaining the social phenomenon of suicide.