An introduction to the concepts, theories and methods of sociological enquiry, and their application to the analysis of Canadian society.
NOTE Also offered online, consult Arts and Science Online (Learning Hours may vary).

This course explores the sociological dimensions affecting the meaning and experience of health and illness in contemporary society. Topics include policy, professionalization, medicalization, mental health, inequalities, bioethics, and globalization.

Explores a range of issues in contemporary sociology. Topics may vary from year to year. See the departmental website for further details.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Examination of relationship between sociological theory and methods of social research; topics include logic of research, hypothesis formulation, and variables and their operationalization.

Introduces descriptive and inferential statistics and data analysis strategies. Topics include probability, correlation/regression, experimental design and analysis of variance. Online learning and weekly laboratories provide practice in computation, interpretation and communication of statistical findings, and large class review sessions and individual drop in assistance ensure mastery. Applications appropriate to different fields of study will be explored.
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.

An introduction to recent sociological debates on the emergence of a global economy and society, and its impact on different parts of the world.

A discussion of the central concepts in sociological theory, for example, agency and structure; rationality, reason, and abstraction; social continuity and social change; subjectivity and selfhood; language and interpretation are normally considered.

A discussion of theoretical frameworks for understanding contemporary societies. The course will normally cover capitalism and economy; globalization and post-colonialism; identity, politics, and social movements; science, technology, and environmentalism; consumerism and urban life.

Concept and meaning of race, racism, and racialization; ethnicity; processes, policies, and practices of differentiation; the impact of racism and discrimination on various populations; intersections of race, ethnicity, class and gender.

The social matrix of personality, socialization as a social process, the influence of social structure and culture upon socialization practices, and the patterning of personality through the life cycle.

This course focuses on the theoretical foundation examining the process by which activities are defined as deviant: such activities as 'sexual deviance', 'mental illness', and 'political deviance'. The major etiological approaches to the study of deviants are also considered.

This course examines a variety of substantive topics in the sociology of deviance. The choice of topics will illustrate the range of theoretical approaches discussed in SOCY 275. The selection of topics will vary from semester to semester but will typically include violence, corporate crime, sexual deviance, and physical stigma.

Social context and consequences of information and communication technologies as they relate to work, culture, privacy and education.

More than 50% of the world's population now lives in cities and most of the biggest sociological issues are urban in location and character. Understanding cities is therefore crucial to understanding contemporary societies. This course is an intensive introduction to Urban Sociology with particular emphasis on world cities.

Explores a range of issues in contemporary sociology. Topics may vary from year to year. See the departmental website for further details.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Explores a range of contemporary issues in socio-legal studies. Topics may vary from year to year. See the departmental website for further details.

Explores a range of contemporary issues in feminist sociology. Topics may vary from year to year. See the departmental website for further details.

Explores a range of contemporary issues in communications and information technology. Topics may vary from year to year. See the departmental website for further details.

This course examines theories and empirical studies on professions and occupations. This course examines historical change, social structure, market competition, career advancement, workplace interaction and culture, job satisfaction, demographic diversity and social service, from the late nineteenth century to the age of globalization.

A comprehensive introduction to the major theories and empirical studies of consumer culture with emphasis upon the historical, socioeconomic, and cultural aspects of consumption in sociological context; substantive focus upon diverse topics such as food, tourism, the home, children, and marketing.

Provides a critical introduction to surveillance and the emerging interdisciplinary field of Surveillance Studies. Offers an historically-grounded, theoretically-informed, and empirically-illustrated survey of the practices, technologies and social relations of surveillance from different perspectives, with an emphasis on the socio-political dimensions.

A lecture-format course devoted to the sociological understanding of visual culture in contemporary society. The course integrates the critical development of key social theories of visuality from Descartes to Baudrillard and beyond. It addresses the sociological significance of visual culture in terms of ideology, hegemony and visual discourse.

The course examines the meaning of work and the changes taking place in the work world, with special attention devoted to new technology, gender, unionism and globalization.

This course introduces students to the sociology of family diversity. Topics normally considered include diversity of family forms; social constructions of motherhood and fatherhood; contested understandings of families; and how contemporary debates about gender differences, sexualities, and racialization may inform the understanding of intimate and familial relations.

Comparative study of Canadian education system and processes in light of current sociological theory and research.

This course focuses on contemporary sociological perspectives of culture. It includes a survey of various theoretical positions vis à vis culture and society such as the high and low culture distinction, the rise of mass culture; cultural hegemony; populism and social resistance. Canadian culture is the predominant object of analysis.

Critical examination of science in modern society; particular reference to historical development, transmission of scientific knowledge, conduct of enquiry, and interdependence with other institutions.

Critical study of historical development of scientific and medical establishments with specific focus upon women; legal, ethical, and economic issues related to new reproductive technologies examined.

Critical study of conceptual, empirical, and theoretical bases to sociological approaches to crime and delinquency; Canadian research emphasized.

Comparative examination of criminal justice system and its major institutions; Canadian research emphasized.

Investigation of gender differences in offending, victimization and criminal justice processing; Canadian research emphasized.

Critical treatment of contemporary theories; emphasis upon logic of social inquiry.

A critical assessment of contemporary issues and theories pertaining to intimate relationships and family relations. Contemporary research and debates are critically discussed. An overall objective of the course is to 'rethink the family' and consider and evaluate ideological assumptions and persistent myths about 'the family'.

This seminar aims at advanced students interested in exploring the body as a site for the production of social and cultural meaning and social inequality. Theoretical approaches may include critical race theory, queer theory, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and sociological theories of the body. Topics covered may include the ways that representations of the body are linked to practices of racism, sexism, moral regulation, colonialism and nation-building.

This is an experimental learning course based on the Walls to Bridges program model, which brings together students from Queen's University ('outside students') with students from a local federal prison ('inside students') to learn and share knowledge based on their lived experience and critical analysis of academic scholarship. Topics may vary.
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.

This is an experimental learning course based on the Walls to Bridges program model, which brings together students from Queen's University ('outside students') with students from a local federal prison ('inside students') to learn and share knowledge based on their lived experience and critical analysis of academic scholarship. Topics may vary.
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.

This course focuses on program evaluation as applied sociology, including program theory, and will provide a practical understanding of how social research methods are used to assess social intervention programs.

Instruction and practice in building and testing multiple regression and logistic regression models with sociological data. Potential utility of alternative models considered.

Examination of social implications of communication and information technology in the context of sociological theory.

This course provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of contemporary issues on social aging. This course focuses on how society and its major institutions have reacted to the aging of society as well as how they have shaped it. The social-psychological, social structural (gender, race and social class) and cultural factors that influence a person's experience of aging are examined.

Consult the Department for possible offerings in any given year.

Consult the Department for possible offerings in any given year.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Consult the Department for possible offerings in any given year.

Consult the Department for possible offerings in any given year.

Consult the Department for possible offerings in any given year.

A critical engagement with theories of consumer culture with emphasis upon the material, symbolic and practice-orientated aspects of consumption in sociological context; substantive focus upon shopping, taste, brands, tourism, services, digital commodities.

Advanced study of gender relations from postcolonial and anti-racist theoretical perspectives. Historical and sociological analysis of femininity, masculinity, race and sexuality, particularly in the context of nation-building and colonialism.

Sociological perspectives of the relationship of law to social structure, the role of law in social action, law's role in social change, and discrimination and social inequality through law; emphasis is on contemporary systems in comparative and historical perspective.

Relationship between law and ideology with particular reference to current controversies; legal reasoning in substantive areas of law, and the place of law with reference to social control, power, social conflict, and dispute resolution; law's interconnections to state ordering and economic relations emphasized.

Critical study of theories and practices of social control in Canada and comparable societies insofar as they are implemented by law or regulation and rely on coercion; main agencies of social control and assumptions of their operation emphasized.

Advanced study of surveillance engaging with sociological, political, cultural and geographic perspectives. The focus is on core topics in Surveillance Studies including: the relationship between surveillance, power and social control; the concept of privacy, its history, utility and future; surveillance, pleasure and consumption; and surveillance in popular culture.

Students will arrange their reading in consultation with members of the Department. They will be expected to write reports on their readings and to discuss them throughout the term in seminars.

Students will arrange their reading in consultation with members of the Department. They will be expected to write reports on their readings and to discuss them throughout the term in seminars.

Students will arrange their reading in consultation with members of the Department. They will be expected to write reports on their readings and to discuss them throughout the term in seminars.

An intensive study of a particular topic or question, usually consisting of a number of sections or chapters which form a single coherent work. The topic is chosen by the student in consultation with an academic adviser, and the work covers both terms.
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.