The course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of sociology. These concepts include social structure, culture, socialization, deviance, social control, social organization, structured social inequality, and social change.
Extensive use is made of examples from the Canadian context.
A study of the fundamental elements of social analysis from the sociological and anthropological perspectives. The aim is to give students a firm grounding in the general approaches taken in the two disciplines and to promote particular critical thinking, reading, and writing skills essential to them. This course centres on the relationship between the individual and society. This fundamental sociological theme is considered, mainly using the symbolic interactionist perspective on socialization as a life-long process of learning, with continual implications for identity. The differences between primary and secondary socialization will be a theme recurring throughout the course.