Sociology Course Offerings

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

An introduction to the main research techniques used in sociology. The course will include practical experience in research design, methods of data collection, sampling procedures, and analysis of data.

This course is designed as an introduction to the sociological study of Atlantic Canada. The first term focuses on the development of the Maritimes and Newfoundland from mercantile societies to under-developed regions within the centralized Canadian economy. The second term focuses on the contemporary structure, problems, and issues of Atlantic Canadian society.

This course reviews theory and research with a focus on the social basis of deviance, deviance construction, and the consequences of social reactions to selected forms of deviance.

This course is a critical introduction to the social, political, economic, and cultural organization of the Internet. The purpose is to provide media literacy tools to penetrate beneath its commonly experienced surfaces. The focus is on who organizes the Web: its commercialization and the potential for democratization of its users. An important goal is discovering the academic Web as a resource for both Liberal Arts education and lifetime learning.

This course explores the sociology of women and China in recent literature and film, particularly in recent work by women in China and of those Chinese origins in western countries. Topics include the 20th century migration, settlement and early family experiences. The novels focus on three generations of families and illustrate the traditional expectations for women within China and in North America. The films include recent works by Chinese filmmakers that comment on women's place in pre-revolutionary and modern society.

This course explores existing patterns of social inequality and debates concerning the possibility and desirability of greater equality. Taking a theoretical and historical focus, this course examines the changing nature of inequality in contemporary Canadian society in the context of globalization. Throughout, we develop our understanding of how different forms of inequality - particularly social class, gender and race - intersect. One section of the course may have a service learning requirement, where students engage in volunteer work in the community, and then reflect upon their experiences through reading, writing, and discussion.

The various perspectives used by sociologists to examine social problems will be described and evaluated. Concrete social problems will be used as examples of these perspectives.

This course examines theories and descriptions of race and ethnic relations, focussing on the general concepts of the role of race and ethnicity in social organization and stratification. Concrete situations in contemporary social systems will be discussed.

This course will focus on particular aspects of the social processes that shape, and are shaped by female and male social roles such as gender and power, gender and social structure of work, and feminist social movements.

A study of the classical tradition in sociological thought focussing on those theorists whose ideas constitute the foundation of contemporary sociological analysis. This will include a consideration of the work of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, among others.

A study of the classical tradition in sociological thought focussing on those theorists whose ideas constitute the foundation of contemporary sociological analysis. This will include a consideration of the work of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, among others.

This course consists of an analysis of work and socio-economic origins of various work categories as occupations and their relationship to changes in the social organization of production. The relationship of various occupations to the class and power structure of society is examined together with processes of recruitment, socialization, and control.

This course focuses on current concerns, debates, and issues regarding social, economic, and political change in an effort to better understand varying levels of development throughout the world. The course examines different development models, theories, and goals. The course pays particular attention to historical processes and prospects for the future. Topics may include: the debt crisis, food security and GMO foods, over/underconsumption, the social impacts of structural adjustment programmes, and the global economy.

The course explores how transformations in material life have produced new cultural forms, which in turn have made possible new types of economic organization. The course decentres capitalist culture by looking at empirical historical and anthropological evidence. It discusses some of the main cultural changes that made capitalism possible, from the ideological advent of calculative reason and self-interest, to the reorganization of time and space by new technologies such as the clock and train transport. The course aims to trouble the naturalness of the modern mass consumer society in which we live, in order to consider some of its key cultural and organizational problems anew, from a sociological vantage point that questions the ultimate ends of capitalist economic action.

This course critically examines law from various sociological perspectives, with particular reference to Canada. The course is designed to cover sociological jurisprudence and selected theories of law, as they relate to family, administrative, labour, criminal and other types of law. Prerequisite: SOCI 2313.

The focus of this course will be on the nature of the relationship between school systems and the broader societies of which they are a part. This will be done with two purposes in mind: (1) to determine both the structural configuration and the functions of education in contemporary society and (2) to demonstrate the effects of this relationship on the internal functioning of schools. A variety of theoretical perspectives on conceptualization of the school-society connection are examined. Of particular concern are structural functionalism, cultural reproduction theories, and theories of correspondence. Each is considered in some detail, especially in terms of the constraints and limitations placed on education by the social structure.

This course explores the interaction between society and the body. It begins with an examination of classical and contemporary theories of the body, and then explores special issues with regard to the development of the civilized body, as well as gender, sexuality, marginalization, deviancy, chronic illness and disability.

Employing both classical and contemporary sociological perspectives, this course explores the nature of art in society by looking at how art objects are produced, distributed, and consumed. Theoretical perspectives are related to historical and contemporary examples from a range of artistic media (e.g., pictorial art, film, photography, literature, and music) to expose the interplay between art and society. The relationship between the fine arts and popular culture are examined, as well as the role of technology in the various arts.

The senior seminar is a one-semester course, required for a Major degree in sociology, which is to be taken in the final year of study. The course is organized around substantive issues, with different sections devoted to different topics. The issues are addressed as puzzles or lines of inquiry that explore current concerns. Students are expected to bring the knowledge they have acquired of the competing traditions of sociological inquiry to bear on the theme. This course will be conducted as a seminar, with students taking responsibility for researching, presenting, and discussing material. Regular attendance and active participation will be emphasized. 1st and 2nd semesters. Limited enrolment (approximately 15) in each section.

The senior seminar is a one-semester course, required for a Major degree in sociology, which is to be taken in the final year of study. The course is organized around substantive issues, with different sections devoted to different topics. The issues are addressed as puzzles or lines of inquiry that explore current concerns. Students are expected to bring the knowledge they have acquired of the competing traditions of sociological inquiry to bear on the theme. This course will be conducted as a seminar, with students taking responsibility for researching, presenting, and discussing material. Regular attendance and active participation will be emphasized. 1st and 2nd semesters. Limited enrolment (approximately 15) in each section.

This is a required course for Honours students in their final year. Enrolment is restricted to Honours students. The course is organized around two sets of activities: 1) workshops oriented to the development of knowledge and skills directly applicable to the process of thesis research, covering such topics as ethical decision-making in social research, practical problems in collecting and analyzing research material, writing in social research and 2) student presentations of thesis proposals, progress reports, and final results. Entry of non-Sociology students is with permission of instructor.

A critical examination of selected orientations from contemporary sociological theory. The implications of these perspectives for both the nature of sociological inquiry and the prevailing models of society are considered. Prerequisite: SOCI 3013, 3023.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of sociology with particular reference to Canadian Society. This course examines theories and research concerning the nature of social order and conflict in industrial society; the relations between important structures or elements of society, including the economy, family, education, religion, complex organizations, racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics of social change. Several major theoretical approaches in sociology are compared throughout the course.

An introduction to the main research techniques used in sociology. The course will include practical experience in research design, methods of data collection, sampling procedures, and analysis of data.

An introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics. The main emphasis will be on the use and meaning of the principal statistics used in sociology and social work. Note: This course may not be taken for credit by students who already have received credit for an introductory statistics course in another discipline at STU or from another university.

This course is designed as an introduction to the sociological study of Atlantic Canada. The first term focuses on the development of the Maritimes and Newfoundland from mercantile societies to under-developed regions within the centralized Canadian economy. The second term focuses on the contemporary structure, problems, and issues of Atlantic Canadian society.

This course reviews theory and research with a focus on the social basis of deviance, deviance construction, and the consequences of social reactions to selected forms of deviance.

This course explores existing patterns of social inequality and debates concerning the possibility and desirability of greater equality. Taking a theoretical and historical focus, this course examines the changing nature of inequality in contemporary Canadian society in the context of globalization. Throughout, we develop our understanding of how different forms of inequality - particularly social class, gender and race - intersect. One section of the course may have a service learning requirement, where students engage in volunteer work in the community, and then reflect upon their experiences through reading, writing, and discussion.

Several current Canadian social problems will be examined from the perspectives used in SOCI 2423. These problems include: poverty, minorities, Canadian identity, the effects of urbanization, and technology, etc. Prerequisite: SOCI 2423.

This course will consider the mass media, (principally print and electronic), its place in, and impact upon Canadian society. Various perspectives and related research will be considered with respect to the control and ownership of the media, the social organization of the production of news, facts, statistics, and other messages; and the themes expressed in the popular culture as conveyed by the media. Underlying concerns are the social construction of what-is-taken-to-be reality and the language that is used in the conveying of messages.

This course focuses on the relations between the beliefs and institutionalized practices that people hold sacred, and contemporary community life. The students explore the contradictory trends of mass secularism and the rise of religious fundamentalism, and the practices through which people collectively mobilize to sustain, challenge, and change religious identities. The question raised by Durkheim is explored: If religion expresses and reinforces community solidarity, how can modern societies accommodate religious diversity? A further question is: How are religions implicated in political struggles, the women's movement, nationalism, and war?

This course will critically examine the role of women in the Third World. It will concentrate largely on the changes in these roles and their correspondence with the transition from traditional to new forms of economic organization, production, and power.

This is a seminar course examining selected topics on the political economy of women. Potential topics include women as paid workers, domestic labour, and women and poverty.

A study of modern developments in sociological theory, focussing on major trends and their interrelationships, and on contemporary theoretical issues and controversies. Prerequisite: SOCI 3013.

A study of modern developments in sociological theory, focussing on major trends and their interrelationships, and on contemporary theoretical issues and controversies. Prerequisite: SOCI 3013.

This course provides experience in designing individual research projects. Participants will review studies across a variety of subject matter and research strategies - surveys, content analysis, discourse analysis, symbolic interaction, institutional ethnography, oral tradition, and the like. Special attention will be given to how sociologists link theoretical questions to empirical evidence. Students will select a subject and research strategy, and design a research proposal. This course is especially recommended for students planning to take Honours in Sociology as it provides an opportunity to develop a thesis research proposal.

This course is intended for 3rd-year honours students who are considering using qualitative analysis in the research for their honours thesis. It will address theoretical foundations of qualitative analysis, research ethics for qualitative researchers, and provide hands-on experience in developing a research question and collecting and analyzing data using basic qualitative techniques including observation, in-depth interviewing, and unobtrusive measures.

What if society was not a thing or a being, but instead consisted of the relation to the other? The course examines the relation to other in selected writings of some of the following: George Herbert Mead, Alfred Schutz, Erving Goffman, Edmund Husserl, Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. We also look to film, literature, popular culture and everyday life for instances of the relation to the other.

This course explores the relationship of women to the state and to law. The ways in which criminal and family law influence gender relations in society are analyzed, including the implications of legal intervention and non-intervention in family relations. Sex-specific and sex-related legislation concerning such issues as sexual harassment, rape, pornography, and affirmative action, are also examined. Theoretical concepts and issues, such as the position of women within capitalism, patriarchy, sexuality and reproduction, formal and informal control, are addressed.

This course will investigate the various theories and practices social control exercises in the regulation of social life; specifically, how it is realized through institutional, organizational and bureaucratic processes associated with professionalization, medicalization and victimization. The course will also examine the relationship between the processes of social control and the repression of social justice for people in varying social circumstances.

This course combines a number of macro- and micro-sociological perspectives on music. The former refers to the wider socio-cultural context in which music is produced, distributed, and listened to. It includes the social functions and uses of music ranging from rituals and ceremonies to its political-economic organization in cultural industries. Forms of music, such as the functional harmony vs. the Afro-American traditons, area related to forms of society. Micro perspectives analyze how performers create and make music together in terms of the interaction among musicians, audience, and conductor. The practices of improvisation and maintaining synchrony will be examined principally in both classical and jazz contexts. Prerequisite: permission of the course instructor or the Director of the Centre for Musical Arts, UNB.

Discourse analysis is the study of language in use, and is thus distinguished from approaches that treat language formally and structurally, as an abstract system of signs and symbols. We examine instances of written and spoken language that occurs in a wide range of contexts, including: everyday conversations among friends, encounters between professionals and clients, the activities of creating, disseminating and consuming mass-mediated texts, and governmental and corporate settings where policies are established, monitored and changed. Combining a theoretical and practical orientation, the course draws primarily on the work of sociologists, but also includes that done by scholars in disciplines such as sociolinguistics, psychology, anthropology, semiotics and literary studies. A basic premise of the course is that in our so-called information or knowledge-based global society, a critical awareness of discursive practices is becoming a prerequisite for democratic citizenship.

The senior seminar is a one-semester course, required for a Major degree in sociology, which is to be taken in the final year of study. The course is organized around substantive issues, with different sections devoted to different topics. The issues are addressed as puzzles or lines of inquiry that explore current concerns. Students are expected to bring the knowledge they have acquired of the competing traditions of sociological inquiry to bear on the theme. This course will be conducted as a seminar, with students taking responsibility for researching, presenting, and discussing material. Regular attendance and active participation will be emphasized. 1st and 2nd semesters. Limited enrolment (approximately 15) in each section.

The senior seminar is a one-semester course, required for a Major degree in sociology, which is to be taken in the final year of study. The course is organized around substantive issues, with different sections devoted to different topics. The issues are addressed as puzzles or lines of inquiry that explore current concerns. Students are expected to bring the knowledge they have acquired of the competing traditions of sociological inquiry to bear on the theme. This course will be conducted as a seminar, with students taking responsibility for researching, presenting, and discussing material. Regular attendance and active participation will be emphasized. 1st and 2nd semesters. Limited enrolment (approximately 15) in each section.