Curriculum

Overview

Our 100-level courses (SOCI 100 (6): Introduction to Sociology, SOCI 101 (3): Social Interaction and Culture, and SOCI 102 (3): Inequality and Social Change) introduce students to the wide breadth of issues studied by sociologists. These courses combine lectures in large classes with weekly discussions in small group tutorials. In our 100-level courses, students will develop skills to synthesize sociological ideas, express opinions informed by research evidence, write arguments in essay format, and present arguments and information orally.

Some important things to know about our 100-level courses:

SOCI 101 (3): Social Interaction and Culture, and SOCI 102 (3): Inequality and Social Change are together deemed to be equivalent to SOCI 100 (6): Introduction to Sociology. In other words, SOCI 100 will cover all of the topics covered by SOCI 101 and SOCI 102, and vice versa.

Our 200-level courses introduce students to a wide range of subfields within the discipline, including family, ethnicity, Canadian social structure, sociology of Indigenous peoples, social interaction, crime, technology and work, and citizenship and identity.

These courses typically have more than 100 students per section and usually consist of lectures. They are nearly always offered as 3-credit courses. Students who have already taken an introductory sociology course should be well equipped to take these courses, although completion of a 100-level sociology course is not formally required for most of them.

Some important things to know about our 200-level courses:

SOCI 217 (3/6): Research Methods is required for the Sociology Minor, Major and Honours programs and is a prerequisite for the 300-level methods courses. Students who intend to register in one of these programs should ensure that they complete SOCI 217 in their second year. SOCI 217 has a 3/6 designation but in practice is always offered as a 3-credit course.

Some sociology courses have three credits of SOCI 200: Sociology of Family as a prerequisite instead of three credits of 100-level sociology. Most of these courses contain a focus on families and contribute to the Minor in Family Studies. Students who wish to minor in Family Studies should ensure that they complete SOCI 200 by the end of their second year.

Once students elect to major in Sociology in their third year, they begin to take more specialized courses on particular topics in major subfields of the discipline. Most 300-level courses have approximately 75-90 students per section.

Some courses have a traditional lecture, midterm, essay and/or final exam structure. Others involve class discussions, dedicated discussion sections, group projects, writing-intensive learning, community learning, applied research, learning in the field, and other activities.

Some important things to know about our 300-level courses:

Three credits of SOCI 328: Social Statistics I is required for majors and Honours students. Students are encouraged to take SOCI 328 as early as possible so that they can meaningfully engage with quantitative research in the other sociology courses that they will encounter in their third and fourth years.

SOCI 371 (3): Classical Traditions in Theory and SOCI 372 (3): Contemporary Directions in Theory are together deemed to be equivalent to SOCI 370 (6): Sociological Theories: Classical and Contemporary Approaches. SOCI 371 (3): Classical Traditions in Theory and SOCI 372 (3): Contemporary Directions in Theory can be taken in any order, or even concurrently. Students completing a Minor in Sociology are required to complete three credits of classical theory. They can meet this requirement by taking either SOCI 370 (6): Sociological Theories: Classical and Contemporary Approaches or SOCI 371 (3): Classical Traditions in Theory. Students who complete SOCI 370 can apply the remaining three credits (the contemporary theory portion of the course) to the Sociology electives requirement of the Minor. Sociology Major and Honours students can meet the theory requirement of their degrees by completing either SOCI 370 (6): Sociological Theories: Classical and Contemporary Approaches or SOCI 371: Classical Traditions in Theory and three credits from our selection of contemporary theory courses, namely, SOCI 372 Contemporary Directions in Theory, SOCI 414 Feminist Theory, SOCI 415 Theories of Family and Kinship, SOCI 416 Selected Topics in Theory and SOCI 469 Queer Theory and Politics. This means that students have some latitude in regards to meeting the contemporary theory requirement of their degree programs. Completing the social theory requirement will help students with more advanced coursework. Students are encouraged to complete the requirement by the end of their third year.

These courses are deeper explorations of specific research topics in sociology. They are typically conducted as seminars capped at 30 students. Some are more academic while some involve applied research and learning. Many students find that the 400-level seminars are the richest and most rewarding courses of their undergraduate program.

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