The way people meet their partners

That is from a sample of people in the US. Source. 

Sociology research: An example

Matthew Desmond's work is a good example. He is Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. 

Abstract: Although sociologists have devoted a considerable amount of research to exploring high-risk organizations, they have not yet developed an adequate explanation as to why individuals working within such organizations place themselves in harm’s way and how organizations ensure they remain there. This article addresses this gap by analyzing how the United States Forest Service motivates wildland firefighters to participate in life- threatening activity. Drawing on ethnographic research and content analyses of official documents, it describes the process by which firefighters come to develop a specific disposition towards risk taking, a disposition through which they view firefighting as an activity void of danger, and how this disposition maintains its shape, and even grows stronger, after confronting its biggest challenge: the death of a firefighter.

That is from his paper "Making Firefighters Deployable" (2010). 
Disposable Ties and the Urban Poor (American Journal of Sociology 2012 - full article not available online) is his most recent published paper:

Sociologists long have observed that the urban poor rely on kinship networks to survive economic destitution. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among evicted tenants in high-poverty neighborhoods, this article presents a new explanation for urban survival, one that emphasizes the importance of disposable ties formed between strangers. To meet their most pressing needs, evicted families often relied more on new acquaintances than on kin. Disposable ties facilitated the flow of various resources, but often bonds were brittle and fleeting. The strategy of forming, using, and burning disposable ties allowed families caught in desperate situations to make it from one day to the next, but it also bred instability and fostered misgivings among peers.

HT: Kevin Lewis.

What are sociologist talking about? A perspective from the "American Sociological Review"

Look at this list of selected articles from the "American Sociological Review." 
This article called my attention:
1. Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction, Chaeyoon Lim and Robert D. Putnam (December 2010) - alas the full article is not available. 

Abstract: Although the positive association between religiosity and life satisfaction is well docu- mented, much theoretical and empirical controversy surrounds the question of how religion actually shapes life satisfaction. Using a new panel dataset, this study offers strong evidence for social and participatory mechanisms shaping religion’s impact on life satisfaction. Our findings suggest that religious people are more satisfied with their lives because they regularly attend religious services and build social networks in their congregations. The effect of within-congregation friendship is contingent, however, on the presence of a strong religious identity. We find little evidence that other private or subjective aspects of religiosity affect life satisfaction independent of attendance and congregational friendship. These are the conclusions of the article.