This course examines how ideas about "race" and "ethnicity" evolved and became institutionalized on a global scale, as well as systems of exploitation, exclusion and inequality that have given rise to today's patterns of racial and ethnic inequality in the world. We focus on examples from different regions of the world, as well as examine large-scale historical events such as colonialism, slavery and immigration.

Examines the causes, prevalence and manifestations of social, political and economic inequalities, internationally and within Canada. The effects of gender, age, ethnicity-race, among other characteristics, are carefully analyzed in Canada and cross-culturally.

This course introduces students to the sociology of gender showing how gender is a relationship of power that structures our everyday lives from intimate relationships through global political and economic forces. We will focus on gender and gender differences as produced in historically and locally specific ways where gender differences intersect with those of race, ethnicity, class, religion, sexuality and other structures of inequality.

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC299H5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC299Y5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

This course will examine trends and approaches within the correctional system in Canada. It will explore the historical and contemporary context of correctional practices. Attention will be paid to the differential impact of Canadian corrections on Aboriginal people and other minority groups.

This course analyzes Indigenous-Canada relations. Topics may include nationhood, diplomatic relations, trade, military relationships, assimilation/civilization policy, land claims, self-government, and/or education.

This course explores the individual, organizational, and ecological dimensions of white-collar and corporate crime. Topics generally include financial and environmental crime, workplace safety, and organizational deviance. As well, the social, political, and criminal justice responses to these crimes will be examined.

This course focuses on human-nature interactions, and the social processes that modify and threaten the natural world.Students develop a better understanding of environmental issues, the interrelationship between social problems and environmental problems, as well as the ways that humans themselves are part of nature.

The course will introduce students to the core and cutting-edge sociological and interdisciplinary scholarship on Asian Canada and Asian diaspora from transnational perspectives. We will examine the history of Asian migration to North America on the context of colonialism, the Cold War, and capitalist development, as well as the experiences of various Asian immigrant communities in the contemporary era.

This course explores the intersections of education and social control. In particular, we focus on moments when social control is evident in schooling, including how that control is used on some populations more than others. Topics include zero-tolerance policies, police/security presence in schools, education programming in prison, and the school-to-prison pipeline.

This course introduces students to the core and cutting-edge sociological and interdisciplinary scholarship on law and crime in Asia and Asian diasporas across the world. It examines major topics in criminology, law and society in various Asian contexts (e.g., legal consciousness, legal pluralism, dispute resolution, policing, rights mobilization, etc.), as well as the experiences of Asian immigrant communities with legal and criminal justice systems.

This course examines the theories, methods, and findings of sociological studies of media production, content, and reception. The focus is on understanding how communication theories are adjudicated by empirical findings. Topics include race and gender in the media, bias in the news, media ownership, the film industry, and the role of the media in politics.

The youth criminal justice system in Canada. Topics include historical and contemporary shifts in the youth justice system, young offender legislation, public perceptions and media representations of juvenile delinquency, current research and theories on youth crime and crime prevention strategies. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of specific groups.

This course will provide an in-depth exploration of a specific topic in law. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.

The course investigates the relationship between law, race, and racism and the societal implications. Students will gain a stronger understanding of how law creates race for the purposes of legitimating and perpetuating racism and the ways that law can, under some conditions, generate social change that reduces racial inequality.

The growth of political, economic, community and academic interest in crime prevention and security. How segments of society or particular physical sites are constructed as security risks in need of regulation. The regulation of security, including crime prevention, community safety, risk reduction and surveillance. These issues are then examined in relation to specific empirical developments such as private policing, restorative justice, community policing and gated communities.

This course provides an overview of the Sociology of Consumption. The study of consumption provides an entry point for examining the intersection between culture, economics, and the environment. Potential topics include the following: the shopping experience, consumption as status, the environmental impact of consumerism, fashion cycles, and identity construction through consumption.

An overview of the link between social inequality and inequality in distress, focusing on differences in mental health across social groups and the role of stress and coping resources in explaining group differences.

This course uses organizational theory to examine major criminal justice institutions--including police, courts, and prisons. It examines the role of organizational goals, structure, resources, legitimacy, culture, and front-line workers in shaping organization-level decisions about policy and practice. It also examines the interactions, mutual influence, and competition between government, interest groups, and criminal justice institutions that help to initiate and sustain field-wide change.

This course investigates the promise and limitations of rights as a legal framework to safeguard citizens and residents of Canada and abroad. Topics include the framing and implementation of novel rights claims, the relationship between formal rights and social norms, and the impact of rights frameworks on civic and community ties.

This course examines the intersections between social inequality and the criminal justice system in Canada and internationally. The course will explore the impact of practices and policies on race, class, gender and other forms of social inequality.

This course explores contemporary social problems related to law with an emphasis on cultural dynamics such as perception, group and community culture, stereotyping, and meaning-making. Topics covered may include law in everyday life, gun carrying by gun owners, workplace discrimination lawsuits, the #MeToo movement, and the Canadian government’s marginalization of Indigenous legal orders.

This course explores how different strains of feminism shape practices of punishment. Course topics may include: intersectional debates in the regulation of domestic violence, gender-responsive policing, state regulation of gender-based violence, and prison abolition theory and praxis.

This course examines the writings on law-related topics in classical and contemporary social theories. At the intersection between socio-legal studies and sociological theory, the course traces how different generations of social theorists approach law, from classical theorists such as Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber to contemporary socio-legal theorists across the world.

This course will examine the nature of policing, its structure and function. Attention is given to the theoretical analyses of policing, the history of policing and to its public and private forms. The course will focus on the objectives and domain, as well as the strategies, powers, and authority of contemporary policing; including decision-making, wrong-doing, accountability, and the decentralization of policing.

The course examines how "drugs", as well as attempts to police and control their use, have been implicated in the making of the modern world. Instead of taking drugs as inherently criminal and deviant, the course will look at how drugs have played a central role in the development of capitalism, colonialism and global inequality in the past 200 years.

This course will explore illegal urban drug markets in Canada and the United States. Specifically, it will focus on how urban drug markets and drug use are influenced by drug cycles, moral panics, the economy, and criminal justice policy. Moreover, it will sociologically analyze the business practices, subcultures, and gendered interactions of drug market participants.