Course List

An examination of the theory, methods and substance of sociology. The course also gives an overview of the major systems of thought vis-a-vis questions about social order, social change and social institutions.

This course will explore the development of Canadian society in the context of a variety of national and international level issues, including: French-English-Aboriginal relations, regionalism, multiculturalism, business/labor relations, criminal justice, and class and gender inequalities.

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This course will examine selected Canadian social problems with various sociological theories. Topics include Indigenous - settler relations, health and illness, poverty and class inequality, crime and violence, gender inequality, and racism.

Comparative study of gender roles and relations with an emphasis on Canada; a review of theories explaining sex-specific perspectives and behaviors; recent sociological research on the interpersonal, cultural, and structural significance of changing roles for women and men in contemporary societies.

This course will involve an exploration of the developmental, relational and structural conditions of men's lives in their diversity, with particular emphasis on Canada. The course will examine the interpersonal, cultural and structural dimensions of boys and men's lives in the context of recent theoretical and research-related developments in men's studies.

Introduction to methods of research design, data collection and data processing techniques used by social scientists. Includes an examination of the relationship between theory and method, research values and ethics and measurement issues as they pertain to experimentation, survey research, field research, content analysis and historical/comparative analysis.

This course concentrates on the philosophical underpinnings, contemporary perspectives, and research methods and strategies employed by qualitative and community engaged researchers. Selected qualitative methods to be explored include: qualitative interviewing, focus groups, ethnography, action research, narrative inquiry, and photovoice. We will also examine the process of qualitative inquiry, such as designing and planning qualitative projects, data collection, coding techniques, data analysis, and communicating the results of research. Students will consider the interplay between qualitative research, social justice, and social change and apply their knowledge in a community engaged research project.

An introduction to the use of statistical methods. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, regression and correlation, inference on means and proportions, sampling distributions, analysis of variance, hypothesis testing.

An introduction to the current situations, perspectives and aspirations of selected Indigenous peoples in Canada. Particular attention will be paid to the emergence of Indigenous cultural resurgence and current developments involving Elders, treaties, family, urban life, gender relations, territorial relations, health and wellness, education, criminal justice and reconciliation.

This course examines the rise of Christian social and political movements within Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions since the French Revolution (1789). It explores the context in which these movements arose, their distinctive ideas and strategies, as well as the practical changes to the establishment they advocated. Attention will be given to movements such as the British anti-slavery movement, faith-based schools, Christian democracy, American civil rights movement, liberation theology, Bonhoeffer & the Confessing Church, and creation care.

Issues around race, ethnicity, nation and culture raise a great deal of debate, and at times discomfort. This course will focus on the ways in which ethnic relations have been theorized sociologically. This course also aims to come to a critical understanding of these concepts, and study how they impact connections between ethno-cultural groups in Canada.

Understanding society requires understanding both the collective impact of humans on the environment and the natural world on humanity. This course will address the role of social structures as cause, impediment and solution to environmental problems. Topics are focused on Canadian cases and include the social construction of nature, sustainable societies, environmental justice, and environmental movements.

This course will examine the role of community in human social life in an age of globalization. Topics will include community development, diversity, social exclusion/inclusion, community resilience, and rural and urban communities. The course will also examine different types of communities including: radical Christian communities, cooperatives, intentional communities, and current initiatives in support of developing sustainable communities.

The sociology of deviance addresses the questions "What is social deviance?" and "What does the process of someone or some group becoming deviant imply?". Every day each person is involved in the making, breaking and enforcing of rules. This course therefore examines what each student thinks about the various aspects of anyone, including oneself, becoming an outsider.

Examination and application of theories of criminal and delinquent behavior. Also examined is the relationship between laws and morality and the social processes leading to criminal behavior.

Through examples from Canada, American, and "global" culture, we will study the tremendous influence that popular culture, in the form of music, films, televisions, print media, and communication technologies, has on our identities, perceptions, values, and everyday lives. This course considers how popular culture provides us with the scripts to practice femininities, masculinities, and sexualities, and how these practices are infused with race and class. It also examines how we exchange knowledge about race and gender through popular culture.

A survey of the origin and the development of classical sociological theory, with particular emphasis on the perspectives and concepts articulated by Comte, Spencer, Martineau, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.

A survey of the contributions of modern sociological theorists, particularly those who contributed to the development of functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and critical schools of thought. Contemporary contributions from feminist, modernization, and other theorists will also be examined.

This course introduces the major currents in African Studies. Challenging popular representations of Africa, it provides critical tools for dissecting the continent's complex socio-cultural experience. It looks at the self-directed and relatively autonomous Africa before the European encounter, particularly the diverse forms of traditional political institutions, the patterns of belief and social relationships, and the rise and decline of pre-colonial states. The course addresses the establishment of colonization and the rise of nationalism. The course combines literary and cultural texts to challenge the "the West's" stereotyped image of Africa as "the Dark Continent."

An introduction to the relationship between individuality and social context. The course covers the history of the field and its relationship to sociology. Classic social psychological experiments will be reviewed and current research and trends explored. Topics include: social cognition and perception, authority and obedience, conformity, the self, attitudes and prejudice, attraction, aggression, and altruism.

A critical examination of mass media as a cultural and institutional phenomenon. Examining film, television, print and electronic media, and popular music in the context of culture, major social institutions and everyday life.

This course will examine the complex interrelationship between culture, the artist and society. The course will evaluate the tension linking the creative individual to his or her society.

This course examines how socio-cultural factors influence sport, and how sport has become a socializing agent of society and culture. Historical and sociological dimensions are explored. Aspects include the industry of sport, gender and sport, ethics and sport, and sport phenomena such as the Olympics.

This course explores health, illness and death from a sociological perspective. In our examination of the broad cultural, political, economic, and interpersonal forces that impact health and illness, we will reflect critically on the relationship between the social determinants of health such as social class, race, gender, and age and patterns of health, illness and death in Canada and worldwide. We will explore historical and contemporary developments in dominant and alternative perspectives on the causes and treatment of disease and illness as well as contemporary issues surrounding the social experience of being ill, mental health, addictions, reasons for seeking particular types of care, and perspectives on death and dying.

Social Class Inequality and Justice. An introduction to theories of social stratification and class inequality as well as examination of local, national and international responses that have been informed by a commitment to social justice. Particular attention will be given to issues of class inequality as they relate to race/ethnicity, religion, and gender.

This course provides a sociological analysis of development. Beginning with a critical review of competing theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence, the course examines the diverse trajectories of industrialization and economic development across nations of different political and economic systems. The course further explores key international events that have rearranged the world and shaped global stratification. Among these events are: social reorganization under colonialism, postwar politics and restructuring, the end of the cold war, globalization of trade and production, the debt crisis, aid, migration, and gender and development. By critically engaging the core issues in the field of development, students will apply their theoretical understanding to empirical examples. The aim of the course is to enable students to develop the ability to critically analyze "doing development" in a global context.

An exploration of the place of science in contemporary Western societies. The complex relationship between science and our social and natural environments is examined in the context of culture, major social institutions and people's everyday lives.

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A study of the structures and forms of marriage and family as they developed historically and culturally in various societies. The course analyzes the contemporary functioning of marriage and family.

Examining the social significance of religion in societies, tribes, organizations and individual lives. Religious myths, rituals, symbols, beliefs and organizations are studied as aspects of the social environments in which they emerge, are maintained and/or are challenged. Also analyzed is the role of religion in relation to social integration and social change.

This course is intended for students in their senior year of study and will focus on the dialogue between scientific and other ways of knowing. Topics will be drawn from Physics, Theology and Sociology that will illuminate such motivating questions as 1) How can Science and Theology engage in a conversation of mutual understanding and transformation? 2) How, or in what ways, has science changed our ideas about what it means to be human? and 3) Given these changes, how then ought we to live our lives?

A course on a topic or figure of special interest to a member of the sociology faculty and offered on a non-recurring basis.

This course places Community Engaged Research (CER) within broad frameworks of structural, social, and environmental inequalities alongside theories of resistance, social change, capacity building, and transformation. The course promotes systematic, reflexive, theoretical thinking about specific issues related to CER opportunities at King's, in areas such as poverty, homelessness, gender discrimination, colonialisms, environmental justice, resistances, and resiliencies.

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All students with sociology as a first subject of concentration are required to take this course. The seminar will engage students in clarifying the relationship between a Christian understanding of the human condition and the discipline of sociology.

An opportunity to do intensive sociological study on a special topic of figure of particular interest to the student. Students work closely with a member of the sociology faculty in tutorial sessions. A student must apply in advance to the faculty member.