A sociological examination of the ways in which individuals and groups have been differentiated and ranked historically and cross-culturally. Systems of differentiation and devaluation examined may include gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, citizenship/legal status, and ability/disability.

This course explores the family as a social institution, which shapes and at the same time is shaped by, the society in North America. Specific attention will be paid to family patterns in relation to class, gender, and racial/ethnic stratifications. Selected focuses include: socialization; courtship; heterosexual, gay and lesbian relations; gender division of labour; immigrant families; childbearing and childrearing; divorce; domestic violence; elderly care.

This course explores how deviance and normality is constructed and contested in everyday life. The course revolves around the themes of sexuality, gender, poverty, race and intoxication. Particular attention will be paid to the role of official knowledge in policing social norms.

The course draws on a geographically varied set of case studies to consider both the historical development and contemporary state of the sociological field of race, racialization and ethnic relations.

Economic activity drives human society. This course explores the nature of work, how it is changing, and the impact of changes on the transition from youth to adult life. It also examines racism in the workplace, female labour force participation, and why we call some jobs 'professions', but not others.

An introduction to various ways that sociologists think about and study culture. Topics will include the cultural aspects of a wide range of social phenomena - including inequality, gender, economics, religion, and organizations. We will also discuss sociological approaches to studying the production, content, and audiences of the arts and media.

This course examines the character, authority, and processes of law in contemporary liberal democracies.

What are the causes and consequences of migration in today's world? This course will explore this question in two parts. First, we will examine how although people decide to migrate, they make these decisions under circumstances which are not of their own making. Then, we will focus specifically on the experiences of racialized and immigrant groups in Canada, with a particular focus on the repercussions of Black enslavement and ongoing settler-colonialism. As we explore these questions, we will also critically interrogate the primary response of the Canadian government to questions around racial and class inequality: multiculturalism. What is multiculturalism? Is it enough? Does it make matters worse? Students will come away from this course having critically thought about what types of social change would bring about a freer and more humane society.

This course provides an introductory overview of the nature and causes of social change in contemporary societies. Topics covered include: changes in political ideology, cultural values, ethnic and sexual identities, religious affiliation, family formation, health, crime, social structure, and economic inequality.

The study of uninstitutionalized group behaviour - crowds, panics, crazes, riots and the genesis of social movements.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

The development of an approach to social movements which includes the following: the origin of social movements, mobilization processes, the career of the movement and its routinization. The course readings will be closely related to the lectures, and a major concern will be to link the theoretical discussion with the concrete readings of movements.

Explores the interaction of gender and work, both paid and unpaid work. Critically assesses some cases for central theoretical debates and recent research. Considers gender differences in occupational and income attainment, housework, the relation of work and family, gender and class solidarity, and the construction of gender identity through occupational roles.

This course examines the character of policing and security programs in advanced liberal democracies. Attention will be paid to the nature and enforcement of modern law by both state and private agents of order, as well as the dynamics of the institutions of the criminal justice system. This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

An upper level course that examines a number of critical issues and important themes in the sociological study of work. Topics covered will include: the changing nature and organization of work, precarious employment, different forms of worker organizing and mobilization, the professions, the transition from school to work.

How do people navigate their everyday lives? Why do they do what they do? And how, as sociologists, can we draw meaningful conclusions about these processes and the larger, social world we live in? Qualitative research methods adhere to the interpretative paradigm. Sociologists use them to gain a richer understanding of the relationship between the minutiae of everyday life and larger societal patterns. This course will introduce students to the qualitative methods that social scientists rely on, while also providing them with hands-on experience carrying out their own research.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

A theoretical and empirical examination of different forms of family and gender relations. Of special interest is the way in which the institution of the family produces and reflects gendered inequalities in society. Themes covered include changes and continuities in family and gender relations, micro-level dynamics and macro-level trends in family and gender, as well as the interplay of structure and agency.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

Why do people migrate and how do they decide where to go? How does a society determine which border crossers are ‘illegal’ and which are ‘legal’? Why are some people deemed ‘refugees’ while others are not? What consequences do labels like ‘deportee’, ‘immigrant,’ ‘refugee,’ or ‘trafficking victim’ have on the people who get assigned them? This course will examine these and other similar questions. We will explore how the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality and citizenship shape the ways that states make sense of and regulate different groups of migrants as well as how these regulatory processes affect im/migrants’ life opportunities.

A popular civic strategy in transforming post-industrial cities has been the deployment of culture and the arts as tools for urban regeneration. In this course, we analyze culture-led development both as political economy and as policy discourse. Topics include the creative city; spectacular consumption spaces; the re-use of historic buildings; cultural clustering and gentrification; eventful cities; and urban 'scenes'.

This course examines the political economy of suburban development, the myth and reality of suburbanism as a way of life, the working class suburb, the increasing diversity of suburban communities, suburbia and social exclusion, and the growth of contemporary suburban forms such as gated communities and lifestyle shopping malls.

In this course, students read and evaluate recent research related to the sociology of families and gender in the modern Middle East. The course explores the diversity of family forms and processes across time and space in this region, where kinship structures have in the past been characterized as static and uniformly patriarchal. Topics covered include marriage, the life course, family nucleation, the work-family nexus, divorce, family violence, and masculinities.

The young figure prominently in people's views about, and fears of, crime. This course examines definitions of crime, how crime problems are constructed and measured. It looks at schools and the street as sites of criminal behaviour, and considers how we often react to crime in the form of moral panics.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

This course provides students with hands-on experience conducting quantitative research. Each student will design and carry out a research project using secondary data. Students will select their own research questions, review the relevant sociological literature, develop a research design, conduct statistical analyses and write up and present their findings.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

After 9/11, terrorism was labeled a global threat, fueling the war on terror and the adoption of extensive counterterrorism actions. These measures, however, often compromised human rights in the pursuit of national security goals. This course grapples with questions pertaining to terrorism, counterterrorism, and human rights in the age of security.

Examines the relationship between contemporary modes of international migration and the formation of transnational social relations and social formations. Considers the impact of trans-nationalisms on families, communities, nation-states, etc.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

This course links studies in the classical sociology of resources and territory (as in the works of Harold Innis, S.D. Clark, and the Chicago School), with modern topics in ecology and environmentalism. The course will use empirical research and theoretical issues to explore the relationship between various social systems and their natural environments.

An examination of a number of key issues in the sociology of education, focusing particularly upon gender and higher education.

This course surveys key topics in contemporary sociological theory. The development of sociological theory from the end of World War II to the late 1960's. Special attention is devoted to the perspectives of Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism.
This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.

Provides an introduction to the emergence, organization and regulation of various media forms; social determinants and effects of media content; responses of media audiences; and other contemporary media issues.

This course examines youth as a social category, and how young people experience and shape societies. Topics include: youth and social inequality; social change and social movements, and youth and education.

The course covers various approaches to the study of law in society. Topics covered may include the interaction between law, legal, non-legal institutions and social factors, the social development of legal institutions, forms of social control, legal regulation, the interaction between legal cultures, the social construction of legal issues, legal profession, and the relation between law and social change.