Courses I Teach

The following course offers students an opportunity to study the sociology of corrections and punishment (penology). We cover the historical development, organization, and administration of correctional institutions, as well as the particular issues confronting a range of different sub-populations. The main focus will be the Canadian context, although some comparative materials will be included as well with respect to incarceration, correctional alternatives, and the issues of rehabilitation and reintegration. Finally, some additional issues will be considered relating to the major sociological theories that attempt to explain the treatment of those convicted of criminal code violations and what we might refer to more generally as “the behaviour of punishment.”

The course introduces students to the sociological study of youths in conflict with the law by evaluating dominant theories, methodological approaches, and research on the subject. Most of the materials deal with the etiology, patterns, and sociological explanations of youth in conflict with the law. While alternative perspectives will be considered, we will focus mainly on the dynamic environments and social contexts associated with families (especially parenting issues and family risks), schooling, peer groups, “gangs,” and communities. Students will further consider special groups of at-risk youth, as well as the influence of gender, families, schools, peers, media and the government in creating, maintaining, and controlling deviance among youth by examining current research. Finally, we will consider the current Canadian juvenile justice system and various alternative responses to at-risk and offending youth.

The course examines socio-cultural analyses of state, structural, and interpersonal violence through theoretical concepts and case studies. The content focuses as well on the social meaning of violence,the purposes and interests served through different types of violence, and how violence can be culturally constructed, rationalized, and perpetuated through values and institutions. While we consider some of the evolutionary, social learning, and cultural bases of violence, the main emphasis will be on the sociological structures and cultural justifications that underlie and may at times promote violence.

In the current course, we will examine “hate crimes” from a sociological perspective first by exploring the meaning and legal definitions of such crimes. The bulk of the course examines the empirical, historical, and theoretical issues involved in the social construction of hate crimes, why people engage in such crimes, what groups are targeted most often, and the legal system’s responses. While the research considered will be mainly from the North American context (especially Canada and the U.S.), some cross-cultural and international materials will be referenced as well.

The course surveys definitional, empirical, historical, and theoretical issues that pertain to the study of terrorism as a form of moralistic violence and social control. The main focus will be the study of the various causes and social conditions under which terrorism typically emerges. We conclude with the prospects for “ending terrorism,” or sociological conditions that might reduce terrorism in the modern world.

The course focuses on the sociological analysis of different types of domestic violence. We explore the definitional, conceptual, and methodological issues that inform key research and explanatory approaches in the area. The emphasis then shifts to the pertinent evidence and selected theoretical perspectives that attempt to explain different types of domestic violence, with an emphasis on underlying sources, factors, or “causes.” Various sessions deal with issues such as intimate partner violence, children maltreatment, sibling violence, and parental/elder abuse. Students will be introduced to groundbreaking analytic work that emphasizes both purely sociological and integrated approaches aimed at providing more comprehensive explanations of these complex phenomena in the Canadian context and in comparative perspective.