SOCI 2250: Sociology of Families 

Description

Prerequisites

Corequisites

Course Learning Outcomes

• Discuss diversity, inequalities and social change in families, including Indigenous Peoples, in the Canadian context.
• Evaluate the multi-generational impacts of colonisation and the Indian Act (1876 to present) on Indigenous Peoples families, Nations and communities.
• Discuss the main sociological theories of family, and explain differing approaches to the study of families, inequalities, and social change.
• Apply knowledge of diversity, structural inequalities including racism, and social change to families in a Canadian and global context.
• Interpret qualitative and statistical research findings on diversity, inequality and social change in families.
• Demonstrate information literacy by effectively locating, evaluating, and synthesizing scholarly sources relevant to the sociology of families.
• Critically analyse full-length, peer-reviewed sociology articles.

Prior Learning Assessment & Recognition (PLAR)

Hours

Instructional Strategies

Evaluation Plan

Course topics

• Socio-historical contexts of diverse, changing family structures, and experiences in Canada, including Indigenous Peoples, in Canadian sociological practice
• Socio-historical context of changing legal and cultural definitions of family in Canada and globally
• Diverse family structures and experiences that include the following: Indigenous Peoples families; Black Canadian families; other racialised ethnic families; immigrant, migrant, and refugee families; 2SLGBTQQIA families; extended families; common-law families; single-person households; blended families; single-parent families; childless families; married nuclear families; communal families; families with members with disabilities; egalitarian and non-egalitarian families etc.
• Socio-historical contexts of family structures, processes, and social change, examined in relation to the following areas: colonisation/decolonisation and reconciliation; state institutions, laws and policies; economy and work; structural racism and discrimination; politics; cultures, ideologies and mass media; religion and spirituality; social movements; demography; the environment, land-based connections and climate change
• Main theories: structural functionalism (family systems); life course and development; symbolic interactionism; conflict and critical theories, including critical race theory; and feminist theories
• Research methods: historical, quantitative (statistical), qualitative (interpretative), feminist, critical including decolonising methods; and mixed-methods
• Traumas and inter-generational effects of colonisation and poverty effecting Indigenous Peoples families including the following: the Indian Act (1876 to present); Residential Schools and Day Schools; the "sixties scoop"; missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls; disproportionate criminalisation and incarceration; and health, family and child services practices etc.
• Relationships/family formations and dissolution over the life course
• Fertility, reproductive choices and aging in families
• Child-rearing, socialisation and parenting
• Power, authority and inequality in families
• The domestic division of labour and caring, feminist theories and oppression
• Abuse and violence effecting families
• Poverty in families, housing, health and education
• The state, family law, and social and health policies