Final answer:
The subject is culture, which includes shared practices, values, and beliefs that dictate patterns of social relationships and meanings within a society. Sociologists study these cultural patterns to understand societal influences on individual behaviors, emphasizing the importance of habitualization and symbolic interactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term in question refers to culture, which encompasses the shared practices, values, and beliefs of a group. Culture is the sum of social relationships and the shared meanings that people give to common experiences, which provide order, expression, and value. This includes aspects such as laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, social structure, kinship, and the sociocultural constructions that shape how individuals interact and perceive their place within society. Sociologists study these patterns to understand how individual behaviors are shaped by societal pressures and interactions with social groups and society as a whole.
As put forward by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, society is seen as a product of habitualization, the process by which actions become repeated and patterned. This framework is useful for understanding how our social reality is constructed and the role of culture in shaping the behaviors and expectations of its members. Symbols and language play a crucial role in this process, as they are the means by which cultural values and norms are communicated and perpetuated.