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.

This course offers a comprehensive review of Canadian Wrongful Convictions and a comparative analysis of the causes of wrongful convictions in other commonwealth countries. This course also focuses on an in-depth review of the responses to the selected cases of wrongful conviction considering the impact of each case on the exoneree and on society through a review of related public inquiry recommendations.

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 focuses on how popular movements and legal institutions influence efforts to produce or prevent social change. Taking a comparative approach, it examines the social conditions that mobilize and sustain popular movements, factors that contribute to movement success, and the receptivity of courts to pressure from below.

This course examines the intersection between immigration and crime control. More specifically, it examines immigration detention and deportation, concerns with immigrant risk, security and terrorism, as well as the impact of public policy on immigration and crime.

This course explores how gender impacts criminalization and how gender shapes the way criminal justice is conceptualized and delivered. Possible topics may include masculinity & criminalization; gender & policing; gender & court outcomes; women's prisons, and trans issues in prisons.

This course deals with the social construction of racial and ethnic categories in the Canadian context, as well as with how Canadian institutions have used racial and ethnic categories to generate inequality and exclusion. It also addresses how individuals, social movements and institutions have at times worked to resist, challenge or modify these practices of categorization and exclusion.

An analysis of the intersection between criminal groups and crime and organizations. This course introduces students to various organizational theories and examines how criminal groups and organizations form, crime by organizations, and crime that is "organized".

This course will examine (1) theoretical and empirical issues regarding demographic, economic, and social processes of aging as they affect individuals, families, and societies; (2) the variations in the process and meaning of aging across gender, ethnicity, and class; and (3) public policy issues concerning aging with regard to the process of public policy-making and effectiveness of relevant programs and services.

This course will introduce students to the classic and contemporary view of political processes in small groups, organizations, institutions, communities and societies. Specific topics to be covered may include revolutions, state formation, ethnic nationalism, social capital and civic participation, gender politics, the various varieties, causes and effects of welfare states and social movements. The course will have both a Canadian and international focus.

This course explores a particular area within sociology. 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.

This course will explore a particular area within criminology, law and society. 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.

This course will survey new legal developments in the field of criminology and criminal law. It will explore the intersections between criminal law and other forms of regulation in society.

In discussions about Indigenous Peoples and law, the Indian Act is one of the most cited pieces of Canadian legislation. From explaining the history of residential schooling to violence against Indigenous womxn, critical and Indigenous scholars turn to the Indian Act as a key source and problem space. We will center the work of Indigenous feminist scholarship to understand why scholars argue that the act is still both required and a site of contestation, violence, and genocide, and how we are each affected by its governance.

Understanding social transformation is at the heart of sociological inquiry. This course introduces students to the sociological analysis of social change - particularly how societies evolve into complex systems. The course examines how social, political and economic institutions are transformed by social change, as well as how these institutions can themselves promote social change. We also examine how citizens can affect change through social and political participation. In addition to classical foundations, the course covers a range of contemporary themes including inequality and stratification, social movements, globalization, and law and justice.

This course will focus on key changes in the world of work since the 1970s and their implications for different groups. We will engage different sides of debates about such issues as women in the workforce, recent immigrant and migrant workers, unions and mobility. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on how class, gender, ethnic and race relations shape work and occupations.

This course provides an overview of sociological approaches to social psychology, with an emphasis on how individuals' thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are influenced by both situations and larger social structures. Theoretical perspectives including symbolic interaction, group processes, and social structure and personality will be examined in depth and applied to understanding various topics; these may include self and identities, socialization, attitudes, emotions, deviance, mental health, and collective behavior.

This course explores a particular area within sociology. 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.