For the former, society is the object of study, whereas, for the latter, language is the object of study. In other words, sociolinguistics studies language and how it varies based on the user's sociological background, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class.[3] On the other hand, sociology of language (also known as macrosociolinguistics) studies society and how it is impacted by language[4]. As Trent University professor of global politics Andreas Pickel states, "religion and other symbolic systems strongly shaping social practices and shaping political orientations are examples of the social significance such languages can have."[5] The basic idea is that language reflects, among several other things, attitudes that speakers want to exchange or that just get reflected through language use.