Cognitive sociology studies and maps all the ways sociocultural context shapes neurological processes and human thought. Some of the most important and influential cognitive sociologists are: Alan Gary Fine, Eviatar Zerubavel, Aaron Cicourel, Karen Cerulo, Paul DiMaggio, Elihu Katz, and Michele Lamont.

American sociologist Aaron Cicourel detailed the principles of cognitive sociology in his book Cognitive Sociology: Language and Meaning in Social Interaction (1974). In the book The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice (1968), Cicourel applied this approach in his study of deviance in juveniles. He focused primarily on social processes that guide the classification of deviant persons, as well as common sense notions that influence the nature of deviant acts and how deviant persons are treated. Analyzing data from two cities in California, Cicourel showed that the police used the common sense theory that children from "broken homes" are more dangerous delinquents. Children from such homes were detained more often, put on trial more often, and convicted more often. The initial common-sense assumption about the existence of a connection between the type of home and the danger of the delinquent influenced the official statistics, while the standard social science drew from these statistics the wrong conclusion about the existence of the connection between the type of home and delinquency. Since there was the same socio-economic structure of the population in the two studied cities, but also a significant difference in official statistical rates of delinquency, Cicourel concluded that the social and political reaction to delinquent behavior produced differences in official statistics on delinquency. As the response to delinquent behavior was stronger in a city with higher rates of delinquency, interactive relationships of negotiating what constitutes delinquent behavior in that city produced higher levels of registered delinquency.

American sociologist Gary Alan Fine introduced the term "idioculture" to sociology. According to Fine, idioculture is a system of knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and customs shared by members of a small interactive group. The scientific use of this concept enables focusing on interactions that can be empirically observed and form the core of the production of the cultural content of a group. Fine studies group dynamics, as well as the processes by which a cultural pattern becomes part of idioculture. To become a part of idioculture, a pattern must be: known to all members of the group, usable, functional, appropriate, and challenging.

Israeli-American sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel's most important contribution to cognitive sociology is his book Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology (1997). Cognitive sociology is focused on how society influences the creation of cognitive processes by which people distinguish between different phenomena and how they classify these phenomena.

Zerubavel applied principles of cognitive sociology in his studies of how time works in the social context in books Patterns of Time in Hospital Life (1979), Hidden Rhythms: Schedules and Calendars in Social Life (1981), „The Standardization of Time: A Sociohistorical Perspective”, in American Journal of Sociology  (1982), and The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week (1985). Researching the organization of time in hospitals, calendars, and diaries, the division of time into months and weeks, he concluded that there is a social basis for time or temporal patterns. The society produces a specific "sociotemporal order" that is different from biological or physical time patterns. Zerubavel singles out four types of socio-temporal conventional regularities: 1) sequential structure - the correct chronological order of activities; 2) duration - how long some activities should last; 3) temporal location - what needs to be done at what time (diaries); 4) rates of recurrence - how often some activities are performed. All these forms of socio-temporal order have their normative and prescriptive side and they all form part of the organization of the whole society. In different societies, but also in the same society in different historical periods, there are different time categories, and changes in time categories directly depend on broader social changes.

In the book The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life (2006), Zerubavel explores how and why some things are kept secret, or their existence is completely denied. Cultural practices and social norms create filters in the individual and social perception of people, concerning events, things, and other phenomena, directing attention to some, while at the same time blocking the perception of others. Examples he points to are societies where there is fear of foreigners, in which any negative behavior of someone who is considered a foreigner receives much more attention than the behavior of someone who is not considered a foreigner; or cases where the whole society refused to notice any very negative behavior, for example, when the Germans during World War II refused to notice or accept the existence of concentration camps near them.

Relevant authors that are not in this encyclopedia: Altheide, David; Cerulo, Karen; DiMaggio, Paul; Espeland, Wendy; Gamson, William; Heimer, Carol; Howard, Judith; Katz, Elihu; Lamont, Michele; Meyrowitz, Joshua; Powell, Walter; Schudson, Michael; Schwartz, Barry; Zelizer, Barbie; Zucker, Lynne.

Books:

Cerulo, Karen A. Culture in Mind: Toward a Sociology of Culture and Cognition (2002);

Cicourel. The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice (1968);

     -     Cognitive Sociology: Language and Meaning in Social Interaction (1974);

DiMaggio, Paul. “Culture and Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Review. Annual Review of Sociology (1997);

Fine. Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology (1994);

     -     Symbols, Selves and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Sociology and Social Psychology (2013);

Zerubavel. Patterns of Time in Hospital Life (1979);

     -     Hidden Rhythms: Schedules and Calendars in Social Life (1981);

     -     The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week (1985);

     -     Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology (1997); 

     -     Time Maps: Collective Memory and the Social Shape of the Past (2003);

     -     The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life (2006);

     -     Generally Speaking: An Invitation to Concept-Driven Sociology (2021).