NOTE Also offered online, consult Arts and Science Online (Learning Hours may vary).
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Comprehend past and current health policy in Canada and the impact of policy reforms.
- Explain and summarize sociological research in this field.
- Identify a range of theoretical approaches to health and illness in the sociological literature.
- Investigate structural dimensions of health outcomes including environmental, occupational, political, and economic factors.
- Investigate the sociological factors that affect health outcomes including socio-economic status, gender, immigrant status, Indigeneity, age, and their intersection.
- Understand different definitions of health and illness and their sociological implications.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Gain a foundational knowledge of the topic.
- Describe and explain the key concepts related to the topic.
- Engage in respectful discussions on substantive issues pertaining to the topic.
- Critically reflect on the theoretical, methodological, and substantive issues pertaining to the topic.
- Respond creatively to a key theme discussed on the topic.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Articulate basic social science principles, concepts, and terminology.
- Identify when and why a specific research method is most appropriate for specific research questions you are interested in testing.
- List and describe appropriate methods for collecting data on sociological topics.
- Produce a research proposal that includes a testable research question and describes appropriate methods of data collection.
- Produce annotated bibliographies that summarize key information in core sociological readings.
NOTE Students can also fulfill the statistics requirements of a SOCY plan by taking any one of the courses listed as exclusions below in place of SOCY 211/3.0.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Acquire a facility with important concepts and theories from the sociology of globalization.
- Demonstrate improved analytic, writing, and communication skills.
- Develop and pursue their own line of interest in globalization research through the crafting of an individual research paper.
- Learn to identify and evaluate key issues and stakes in the public and academic discussions around globalization.
- Understand the historical underpinnings of contemporary global trends and discourses about globalization.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply theoretical knowledge to an appropriate sociological question.
- Appreciation and understanding of similarities and differences between a plurality of approaches in modern social theory.
- Clearly communicate the meaning of abstract theoretical concepts verbally and in writing.
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize information obtained from a variety of written sources, and communicate relevant information in different ways.
- Evaluate theoretical arguments and evidence.
- Understanding of the internal connections between classical and modern approaches to social theory.
- Understanding the key theoretical debates about social transformations in the 20th Century.
- Understanding the transformations in social theory during the 20th century in Europe and North America.
- Use abstract sociological concepts with confidence.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply a sociological and critical lens for the analysis of the construction and representation of race, ethnicity, nationhood, gender, sexuality, and class.
- Demonstrate reflective written communication skills and conversational skills on difficult topics, considering personal differences and multiple perspectives respectfully.
- Develop an ability to analyze the power and racializing dynamics at play in social relationships and institutions, within Canada and North America.
- Explain how power, privilege, and marginalization are implicated in social structures and institutions.
- Gain a deeper understanding of your own assumptions about "race" and racism.
- Learn key concepts and theories of race and racism drawn from the fields of Sociology, Critical Race Theory, gender and feminist studies, and decolonization studies.
- Utilize an intersectional approach to analyze the experiences of various social groups.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply different concepts to discuss what specific social psychological studies and theories might "do" in terms of contributing to academic and larger cultural imaginings.
- Apply social psychology concepts and theories to reflect on events and experiences in their own lives.
- Compare divergent paradigms and theories pertaining to specific areas of social psychology research and thought to critically reflect on the associated assumptions, methods, and arguments.
- Employ social psychology concepts and theories to identify interconnections between the individual, her/his social context, and social structures.
- Identify assumptions, methods, and arguments pertaining to major areas of social psychology research and thought (e.g., self and identity, attraction, attitudes) in order to make critical assessments of their similarities and differences.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to articulate the range of questions addressed by sociologists who are interested in the study of deviance. Students acquire an understanding of the variety of ways in which the sociological study of deviance is important and relevant and can apply this knowledge to real life situations.
- Ability to identify and distinguish "kinds of theory" focusing on levels of abstraction, levels of explanation, classification schemas, and the social context of theory.
- Ability to trace the historical origins of contemporary theoretical accounts of deviant behaviour and to distinguish the two broad explanatory approaches - the classical school and the positivist school. Ability to demonstrate how these early explanations of deviant behaviour continue to influence modern thought on the subject.
- Compare and contrast the major sociological approaches to the study of deviant behaviour including strain, cultural and social control theories. Develop a comparative understanding of the degree to which these perspectives are supported by empirical evidence and also able to describe the major limitations characteristic of each perspective.
- Explain the major emerging streams of theory being developed to understand links between race/ethnicity and crime and can identify the strengths/weaknesses of racializing established perspectives versus theories developed specifically to understand how the unique histories and current conditions of certain populations may influence behaviour.
- Learn to discuss the processes by which people come to be labelled as deviants and why some people are more vulnerable to deviant labels than others. Also, understand some of the more important concepts that are used to describe the labelling process, including stereotyping and retrospective interpretation.
- Make connections between different levels of theory and appreciate the process of theoretical integration that can provide more holistic understandings and explanations of both deviance and social control.
- Think critically about popular ways of defining deviance and recognize the uniqueness of a sociological approach. Ability to compare and contrast the two dominant sociological conceptualizations of deviance and become familiar with a working definition of deviance and social control.
- Through an examination of claims-making processes, students learn to think critically about the taken-for-granted character of deviance, crime, law and social control. Students learn the extent to which moral meaning is problematic. Students also acquire an understanding of the dominant theories of conflict within which the process of claims-making can be situated.
- Understand the major variations of feminist thought relevant to the study of crime and deviance and demonstrate how feminist thought can be viewed as both a critique of and a complement to more traditional explanations of crime and deviance.
- Understand the role that empirical research plays in the sociological study of deviance and analyze some of the unique problems that arise in the course of the empirical investigation of deviance. Develop an understanding of how the major research methods employed by sociologists contribute to the scholarly literature on deviance.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Contextualize the regulation of socio-legal issues with the influences of social inequality, marginalization, social control, social organization, and cultural change.
- Critically reflect on the role of deviance, social control, and law in society.
- Define and explain the distinction between the law on the books and the law in practice, applying a variety of theoretical approaches to explain, evaluate and critically assess the regulation of morality and deviance.
- Draw on theoretical frameworks to analyze and engage in a variety of contemporary socio-legal debates about deviance and social control.
- Explain the complexities of legal regulation and the challenges and contradictions of using the law to advance or restrain social change.
- Explain the policy implications of historical and contemporary methods of defining and regulating populations through law and the concept of human rights.
- Understand how definitions of deviance and the development of legal responses are influenced and shaped by social, political, and economic relations.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Knowledge and Understanding: the ability to identify and describe key questions and concerns of technology in society; as well as a command of basic concepts in science and technology studies.
- Reading skills: some of the text will be challenging for you. This is either because they are theoretically dense, or because they were written based on technologies with which you will not be familiar (or both). The concepts they develop are still central to understanding the roles of information and communication technologies in social processes. In this course, you will develop reading strategies with the aim of transferring concepts across different technologies and contexts.
- Writing skills: academic writing doesn’t come naturally and needs to be learned and practised. I have designed the assignments, so they break down the process of writing an essay into smaller tasks. This will help you build up material throughout the course which you can draw on when the time comes to write the essay.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Describe and articulate relationships between current urban research and the character of future cities.
- Identify and articulate the specificity and variety of urban cultures and subcultures.
- Identify and explain how a range of urban social problems interact, and conduct comparative analyses of similar problems across selected world cities.
- Identify and explain the bases of valid and useful comparative cases urban research.
- Identify and explain the central characteristics of urban sociology and how this relates to the broader field of urban studies.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply course material to real work and daily life examples.
- Become familiar with a variety of research questions and empirical studies of issues related to work and occupations.
- Consider various social and economic policy initiatives by which problems related to work might be addressed.
- Critically read, analyze, and write about sociological (both theoretical and empirical) literature on the professions and occupations.
- Gain foundational knowledge concerning important concepts and causal relationships that will help you make sense of professional work and its role in society.
- Think about how these research questions are related to more general theories of work, social organization, and institutions.
- Understand how professions and occupations are currently conceived of in terms of expert knowledge, market control, professional orders, and codes of conduct.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Draw upon sociological literature to identify and explain the distinctions and differences between concepts of ‘consumerism’, ‘consumption’, ‘commodities’, ‘exchange’, and ‘markets’, articulate these accurately in written argument, and critically assess their explanatory power in relation to a range of contemporary issues.
- Identify and articulate at least three explanations for the historical emergence of contemporary consumer culture in relation to modernity.
- Identify and explain the similarities and differences between at least three sociological theories of choice in consumer culture and identify the broader perspectives to which those theories belong.
- Identify and explain the key features of sociological debates about advertising and branding in contemporary society, identify the issues of ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ involved in these.
- Identify, explain, and critically assess the similarities and differences among a plurality of theories and concepts in the sociology of consumer culture, and draw upon these to critically evaluate at least one substantive topic in written form.
- Use abstract sociological concepts with confidence in a variety of written forms to explain contemporary sociological theories of consumption.
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize information obtained from a variety of written sources and communicate relevant information in different ways.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to critically discuss the issues pertaining to surveillance in a sociological manner making use of concepts and theories covered in the class.
- Ability to recognize the nuanced and contextual nature of surveillance discussions.
- An increased awareness about contemporary surveillance practices, technologies, and systems.
- Analyze surveillance issues with the tools provided in the class, apply appropriate theories and concepts in their analysis and communicate in an effective and sociological way.
- Conduct a critical discussion and conversation about contemporary issues of surveillance.
- Develop an awareness of how their own data might be circulated.
- Develop writing skills to convey their knowledge.
- Have an understanding of key surveillance trends and academic discussions.
- Make connections between the new concepts and theories they learned with the ones already in their sociological toolbox.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding of the historical genesis of modern visual cultures.
- Understanding of several interdisciplinary approaches to the study of visual culture.
- Understanding the significance of technologies in shaping visual cultures.
- Understanding the sociological significance of visuality in contemporary cultures.
- Appreciation and understanding of the debates about visual inequality, diversity, and difference within visual cultures.
- Draw upon sociological literature to identify and explain the distinctions and differences between concepts of ‘visuality’, ‘image’, ‘representation’, ‘looking’, ‘visual mediation’, ‘visual communication’, articulate these accurately in written argument, and critically assess their explanatory power in relation to a range of contemporary issues.
- Identify and articulate at least three explanations for the historical emergence of contemporary visual culture in relation to modernity, colonialism, and capitalism.
- Identify and explain the key features of sociological debates about visual practices in contemporary society, identify the issues of ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ involved in these.
- Identify, explain, and critically assess the similarities and differences among a plurality of theories and concepts in the study of visual culture, and draw upon these to critically evaluate at least one substantive topic in written form.
- Use abstract concepts with confidence in a variety of written forms to explain contemporary theories of visuality.
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize information obtained from a variety of written sources and communicate relevant information in different ways.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Identify the dominant discourses, past and present, which frame the development and integration of information technologies in working practices.
- Learn to assess information technologies in working practices with respect to the possibilities they provide for greater empowerment and organization, and more sophisticated methods of control and containment of popular dissent.
- Learn to think critically about the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of information technology, and to critically assess the claims of "the information society."
- Understand the key sociological perspectives and concepts that examine the shifting forms, deployments, and experiences of information technologies in work contexts.
- Understand the relationship between work technologies and various spheres of human life such as: identity formation, cultural production, gender, surveillance, biological ethics, etc.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Awareness and understanding of the diversity and variation of “the family.”
- Analyze family trends in Canada through sociological research.
- Analyze the challenges facing contemporary families and assess the challenges and possible trends for Canadian families in the future.
- Increase reading comprehension through the use of original sources.
- Use original academic sources to develop written arguments.
- Apply theoretical perspectives and sociological concepts to social issues related to the family.
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize theoretical arguments and evidence.
- Engage in critical thinking and evaluate social phenomena within a sociological framework.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to employ complex sociological concepts with confidence in oral, written, and other presentation forms to explain contemporary issues in education to their peers.
- Develop a greater awareness of how educational experiences can vary across space and time and develop a more critical understanding of educational processes.
- Develop advanced theoretical knowledge, critical thinking, and writing skills and the process of peer review.
- Develop an understanding about the relationship between race, gender/sexuality, class, and access via educational institutions. Examples include why residential schools were historically problematic; feminist pedagogies; spatial layout and classroom design; neighborhood effects.
- Develop an understanding of the politics and economics of the textbook industry as well as the politics of curricular development and identify key debates in the public vs. private/charter schools' debate.
- Evaluate and engage with key theoretical and practical arguments including but not limited to the relationship between education, race, and power; teaching/learning history; the politics of the textbook; information technologies in the classroom; residential schools; antiracist education/multicultural education; education in conflict zones.
- Learn to think critically about the scope and function of public education in North America and the inherent contradictions and power relations found within educational institutions and structures.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to draw a connection between the study of culture and other spheres of sociological inquiry.
- Ability to identify and describe key theorists, theories, and subject areas in the field of cultural studies.
- Appreciation of the diversity of ways cultural production, consumption, and meaning shape everyday life.
- Understanding of key approaches to the study of culture and their application to understanding social and cultural change.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Appreciation of the socially constructed and contested nature of science and technology in society.
- Knowledge and understanding: the ability to identify and describe key questions and concerns about (a) the ways in which social assumptions (i.e., about race, gender, and sexuality) shape scientific knowledge, and (b) the ways in which science and technology influence the politics of race, gender, and sexuality.
- Development of reading and writing skills (this is a very reading intensive course).
- Use abstract STS related concepts with confidence in a variety of written forms to explain contemporary interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science and technology in society to their peers, teaching assistants and course instructor.
- Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize information obtained from a variety of written sources and communicate relevant information in different ways.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Critically examine a specific reproductive technology or development through a gender sociological lens.
- Draw upon the early modern social history of reproduction, including contraception and abortion to address particular issues in social reproduction.
- Explain in writing the main issues involved in the modern social history of reproduction in Canada.
- Explain the major developments in reproductive technologies in modern society as sociological events, particularly in terms of gender.
- Ability to outline in written and oral presentations some of the central challenges and developments related to legislation concerning scientific and technological developments in terms of NRTs and GE.
- Present arguments about how economic interests drive recent developments in reproduction and replication.
- Provide a basic analysis of how reproduction, chiefly population control, is related to various environmental concerns.
- Define and explain the term "foetal personhood" in light of a selection of chiefly North American legal developments in granting fetuses rights to life.
- Demonstrate in written and oral presentations how the social history of modern reproduction applies to a contemporary social issue or problem.
- Identify and briefly explain the main so-called new reproductive technologies (NRTs) and human genetic engineering (GE).
- Identify and critically examine the main arguments in global human rights claims.
- Identify and outline the informal aspects of social control that play out in the dissemination of NRTs and GE.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to distinguish the major conceptualizations of crime and their common elements. Students will learn to think critically about the images of crime which they encounter in popular culture and how these images misinform public opinion about crime in Canada.
- Ability to identify, critically assess, and employ the major data sources such as police-generated data (the UCR), victimization survey data and self-report (offender) data, which inform criminological inquiry to interpret crime and specific crime rates.
- Acquire a basic understanding of how contemporary sociologists conceptualize the role of the victim in the context of criminal events. Students will also gain a working knowledge and critical appreciation of the major victim-centered accounts in crime reporting.
- Learn how to think about crime in a domain-specific manner, to think about the practical implications of criminological understanding. Three such social domains are considered: the family and household, leisure settings and school and the workplace.
- Understanding of the major theoretical approaches to offending behaviour, including more recent and more sophisticated integrated theories and particular attention is devoted to the extent to which these theories proceed from earlier theoretical work.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply the conceptual tools of key sociological theories to selected case studies and empirical research studies.
- Critically evaluate concrete policy responses to crime with attention to the gendered variations in criminal offending and victimization.
- Demonstrate a working knowledge of the key sociological theories of gender differences in the nature and occurrence of crime.
- Describe how crime is currently measured and the extent and distribution of criminal behavior according to these measures.
- Identify gender variations across various forms of data.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Comprehend, critically assess, and discuss some of the scholarly literature related to contemporary social theory.
- Critically reflect upon the nature of sociology as a rational discourse.
- Develop and employ what C. Wright Mills termed "vocabulary adequate for clear social reflection."
- Formulate and present a concise summary of the main ideas, arguments, and evidential support found in scholarly literature related to contemporary social theory.
- Identify and explain the fundamental ideas in a number of contemporary social theories.
- Identify, explain, and critically assess the fundamental elements that are found in all social theories.
- Present orally and in writing the main ideas and features of a contemporary social theorist.
- Produce a critical, written presentation of one contemporary social theorist's main ideas and argument.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to confidently participate directly in the development of ideas and arguments as we seek to gain a better understanding, as well as critique, the institution of the family and family interaction processes.
- Ability to verbally and in written form, engage in ways to "rethink the family", considering and evaluating ideological assumptions and persistent myths about "the family" and its variations.
- Apply theories grounded in feminism, social constructionism, post-structuralism, postcolonialism, feminist political economy, queer theory and critical race theories, to explore the family as both experience and institution.
- Appreciate that the study of families is an important point of analysis as well as a significant point of departure for understanding the relationship of individuals and society.
- Critically examine a range of contemporary issues and debates pertaining to intimate relationships and family life.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply course concepts to contemporary social justice issues relating to embodiment.
- Define key concepts and identify important debates in sociology in relation to the body.
- Explore and challenge common-sense understandings of the body, and to describe how the body is enacted and "done" in practice and in real life.
- Understand how experiences of embodiment vary through intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, nationality, and ability.
NOTE This course will take place off campus at a local federal prison, as part of the Walls to Bridges prison education program - http://wallstobridges.ca.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Acquire knowledge of the concept and process of 'othering' by bringing together course readings and lived experiences in both oral and written form.
- Challenge the stigma of incarceration by fostering dialogue between "inside" and "outside" students.
- Develop a clear understanding of the socio-political nature of incarceration and the othering process via intersectional analyses of race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability.
- Develop and demonstrate communication skills, self-reflexivity, and critical engagement with course material.
- Practice collaborative and reflective learning.
- Understand and enact the principles of non-hierarchical circle pedagogy, as practiced in the Walls to Bridges program.
NOTE This course will take place off campus at a local federal prison, as part of the Walls to Bridges prison education program - http://wallstobridges.ca.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Critically reflect on the role of punishment and social control in society.
- Explain the complexities of correctional practices and the challenges, limitations, and contradictions of punishment.
- Understand how legal responses and punishment practices are influenced and shaped by social, political, and economic relations.
- Draw on theoretical frameworks to explain, evaluate, engage in, and critically assess contemporary debates in sentencing, punishment, and correctional practices.
- Contextualize punishment and correctional practices with the influences of social inequality, marginalization, racism, and colonialism.
- Explain the policy implications of historical and contemporary criminal law and punishment policy as methods of defining and regulating populations.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Conceptualize vocabulary to address health, illness, and disability.
- Thorough understanding of the key debates in the sociology of health and illness, and their application in qualitative research on health, illness, and disability.
- Link theoretical discourse with applied qualitative sociology, with a focus on health equity and inequality.
- Express and explore a subfield-specific argument in extended written form, linking theoretical perspectives in the sociology of health and illness to real world issues of health, illness, and disability.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Explain in written and oral presentations the complexities involved in an analysis of the broad context of the evaluation process, indicating the social forces that shape policy space, why there is so often resistance to program evaluation, and the significance of the theoretical and empirical links between the process of program evaluation and the social construction of social problems.
- Explain in written and oral presentations the unique aspects of evaluation research and identify the difference between pure and applied research as well as the political character of the evaluation process.
- With a basic knowledge of the logic and the purpose of the major forms of process analysis including organizational assessment, program utilization and materials assessment students can explain in written and oral presentations why stakeholders often resist various forms of process analysis.
- With background knowledge in the strengths and shortcomings of impact/outcome studies and an understanding of the higher-level problems in causal analysis including the use of quasi-experiments, the need for counterfactuals, and issues regarding levels of aggregation, students can assess internal and external program validity and recognize the major threats to validity.
- With basic knowledge of the logic and problems associated with feasibility studies and needs assessments, students can indicate in written and oral arguments the relative merits of several specific ways in which feasibility studies and needs assessments should be conducted including meta-analysis, social indicators analysis, key informants, community fora, surveys, the nominal group method and the Delphi technique.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Read and criticize statistics as frequently presented in academic, media, and governmental reports.
- Develop a good understanding of statistical theory, and a theoretical and practical understanding of statistical concepts.
- Use statistics as a tool in understanding social processes rather than as a topic of study in its own right.
- Complete assignments that provide practice in using statistical computing packages, emphasizing both conceptual understanding and the interpretation of results.
- Gain experience of 'hands-on' application of these techniques, with an emphasis placed on practical application of statistical techniques as well as an understanding the conceptual links between them.
- Gain knowledge of computer applications as an integral part of their training, including the use of statistical computing packages such as STATA, SAS, and SPSS.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Gain an appreciation of the ambivalent role of technology for liberatory purposes.
- Knowledge and understanding of different conceptualizations of technology in relation to power and politics, as well as the ability to identify and describe key questions and concerns about the various ways in which technologies may be involved in maintaining or disrupting social orders.
- Learn and exercise academic appropriate writing skills to write the term paper.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Ability to use a social justice/equity lens and apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the impacts of gender roles, culture, sexuality, social class, and ethnicity and intersectionality; as well as evaluate the strengths and limitations of various theoretical perspectives.
- Complete written assignments as well as develop a presentation and poster, reinforced by peer-reviewed journal articles, to answer research questions and develop research skills.
- Engage with readings, discussion, and peer/guest presentations, to contextualize the aging body as a social construct within current socio-political environments and build awareness of the role of social justice in challenging inequities.
- Learn how physical society supports/hampers the experience of aging especially for those aging with disability and/or illness (e.g., accessible environment, buildings, transportation, technology).
- Listen to and interact with guest speakers who will introduce diverse perspectives on the experience of aging.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding of the differentiated dynamics of consumerism in global terms.
- Understanding of several different approaches to the study of consumption, consumers, and commodities.
- Understanding of how these approaches have been used to analyze specific consumption practices.
- Understanding of central debates about commodification and consumerism.
- Understanding of how to use visual methods in contemporary sociology.
- Identify and explain the key features of debates about contemporary consumerism, articulate these accurately in verbal and written argument, and critically assess their explanatory power in relation to a range of contemporary phenomena throughout the course.
- Identify and articulate at least three features of contemporary perspectives on consumer culture, explain the continuities and discontinuities between ‘modern’ and ‘postmodern’ perspectives, and verbally and visually articulate connections between abstract concepts and lived experience.
- Identify and explain the similarities and differences between sociological and anthropological approaches to consumer culture as ‘material culture’ and explain the strengths and limitations of these in critically assessing their own consumption practices and patterns in verbal and visual form.
- Identify and explain the key features of sociological debates about visual consumption in contemporary society, critically reflect on their use of visual sources in communicating these features, and critically assess the centrality of vision to contemporary cultures of consumption.
- Identify, explain, and critically assess the similarities and differences between several materialist and discursive theories and concepts in the sociology of consumer culture, and can draw upon these to critically engage with seven substantive topics in verbal form, and at least one substantive topic in written form.
- Enhance their abilities in working in small groups, sharing and synthesizing ideas, constructing arguments as a group, critically evaluating their own understanding and their individual contributions to debate.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Articulate and develop an intersectionality approach to understanding gender (and sexuality) relations.
- Develop strong presentation skills drawing on key theoretical course materials (Queer theory, feminist theory, intersectionality, anti-racist feminism) as well as drawing upon their own research.
- Engage and reflect on discussions and debates within the field of gender studies (feminist, queer, intersectional etc.).
- Explore the tensions and comparisons between queer theory and feminist theory.
- Identify and analyze the diverse ways that gender and sexual diversity have been theorized.
- Identify and explain three major trends seen in advanced studies in gender and present an argument/thesis drawing upon key theoretical literatures.
- Understand and unpack the relationship between power and knowledge drawing on Foucault and Butler's theories of knowledge, and gender performativity.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Appreciate the sociological complexity of legal practices and legal institutions.
- Be able to connect legal institutions with social values, norms, and deviance.
- Develop and hone research and writing skills to present evidence clearly and persuasively, addressing the law.
- Identify and express questions about equality and inequality in legal frameworks.
- Understand and address questions about the role and design of the law.
- Understand and apply sociological and criminological concepts to the law.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Students are able to articulate the range of questions addressed by sociologists who are interested in the study of deviance. Students acquire an understanding of the variety of ways in which the sociological study of deviance is important and relevant and can apply this knowledge to real life situations.
- Students are able to trace the historical origins of contemporary theoretical accounts of deviant behaviour and to distinguish the two broad explanatory approaches - the classical school and the positivist school. Students are able to demonstrate how these early explanations of deviant behaviour continue to influence modern thought on the subject.
- Students can compare and contrast the major sociological approaches to the study of deviant behaviour including strain, cultural, and social control theories. They develop a comparative understanding of the degree to which these perspectives are supported by empirical evidence. They are also able to describe the major limitations characteristic of each perspective.
- Students can think critically about popular ways of defining deviance and recognize the uniqueness of a sociological approach. They are able to compare and contrast the two dominant sociological conceptualizations of deviance and they become familiar with a working definition of deviance and social control which allows them to address a range of relevant and important questions.
- Students learn to discuss the processes by which people come to be labelled as deviants and why some people are more vulnerable to deviant labels than others. Students understand some of the more important concepts that are used to describe the labelling process, including stereotyping and retrospective interpretation. Students can render meaningful the ways in which stigmatized people cope with the attributions of disreputability made about them.
- Students understand the major variations of feminist thought relevant to the study of crime and deviance and they can demonstrate how feminist thought can be viewed as both a critique of and a complement to more traditional explanations of crime and deviance.
- Students understand the role that empirical research plays in the sociological study of deviance and they are able to analyze some of the unique problems that arise in the course of the empirical investigation of deviance. Students develop an understanding of how the major research methods employed by sociologists contribute to the scholarly literature on deviance.
- Through an examination of claims-making processes students learn to think critically about the taken-for-granted character of deviance, crime, law, and social control. Students learn the extent to which moral meaning is problematic. Students also acquire an understanding of the dominant theories of conflict within which the process of claims-making can be situated.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Apply this critical conceptual toolkit in ways that makes academic research more equitable and accessible.
- Conceptualize and deploy different concepts of digital capitalism to understand contemporary events.
- Critically approach the specificities of digital capitalism in its many global manifestations and the devices and infrastructures that facilitate the global spread and maintenance of digital capitalism as a socio-economic system.
- Understand and mobilize different sociological approaches to understand the structure and effects of capitalism.
NOTE A brief giving details of the requirements is available in the Department; students should read this before the end of their third year. A meeting between staff and students is normally held in the Fall Term to discuss questions about the thesis.
NOTE Requests for such a program must be received one month before the start of the first term in which the student intends to undertake the program.