I share in the video here how to do this very inexpensively and it is so easy that I can't believe I went for three or so years before fixing this light on Princess Five's old room ceiling fan. After I finished this one, I realized that the "night light" center bulb of our upstairs family room fan that has four outer lights and one in the center hasn't worked in 12 years or so. I didn't want to have to replace the entire ceiling fan so I started using the light over the stairs as a "night light" instead.
It seriously took me about 8 minutes to replace the socket in that ceiling fan. I SO wish that I had asked my brother about it earlier. 
Once the electricity is off. Take the glass glob off and the light bulb out of the socket.
There is a little screw INSIDE the socket. Sometimes, that screw may have come loose a bit and just by tightening that screw, you can fix the problem. 
If the screw isn't loose, use a screwdriver and take the screw out of the inside of the socket. There can be a few different reasons why your socket isn't working. There can be some rust buildup. The socket can get broken, the connections can come loose etc.
You then need to take off the base of the fixture above the socket. It is usually two or three screws on the bottom sides of the fixture, or, just follow the wires up as you take the socket off.
On newer fixtures, it can have a clamp wire cap and on older fixtures, it will most likely be an orange or yellow screw on wire cap. Take the cap off and unscrew the wires allowing the socket to be pulled out of the fixture.
If the cap is a clamp on, you can take pliers and try to crimp it on the sides which can open up the crimp or you can cut the wires as near as you can to the cap and then strip the ends of the wires so that you can reconnect the new socket to them and you will need a orange screw on wire caps to secure the wires after attaching them.
Thread the new socket wires through the fixture until they are to the power wires. Wind the like colored wires together and cap with an orange wire cap. Black goes to black and white goes to the white wire. Once you have the wires hooked up and covered with a orange wire cap, screw the new socket onto the little metal bracket using the screw that was in it with the old socket. Make sure the connection is tight so the socket won't move. Test the light by turning the power back on. It should be good to go!
Rather than spending lots on a new socket, I purchased an old set of four from a ceiling fixture at a second hand store that had four on it with one broken one. I paid $1 for the fixture since one was broken and it gave me three sockets for $1. I doubt I could have gotten one for that at a parts store. 
When up with Princess One last week, I fixed her ceiling fan by purchasing a used one from the second hand store in her town and paid $4 for the old fan and stole the pieces I needed off it and was able to fix her broken pull chain. So for $5, I fixed her ceiling fan and two lights in my home!
I have to say I am not a licensed electrician so this is just my sharing what I did and am in no way telling you how or what to do! When working with electricity, always turn off the power and call an electrician.
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