Queen’s University

Department of Sociology
SOCIOLOGY 122

Course Evaluation:

Encyclopedia Assignment 5%
Mini Library Assignment 5%

Anatomy of a Term 15%

Paper Assignment

Tutorial work (fall term) 5%

December exam 20%

Research essay 25%

Tutorial work (winter term) 5%

Final exam 20%

Textbooks: For the Winter Term the course texts are:

Social Structure and Human Agency: An Integrated Introduction to Contemporary

Society by Rob Beamish (Mc-Graw-Hill Press, 2017). The text is specifically designed
and written for SOCY 122.

Kickstarting Your Academic Career by George Robert Ostergard and Stacy Fisher
University of Toronto Press, 2017).

Both books are available at the Queen’s Campus Book Store.

Course Policies:

Attendance: Attendance at lectures is strongly advised but not monitored or required.

Tutorials: The University scheduling system has assigned you to a tutorial group. You
may find out your tutorial assignment through SOLUS. A list of tutorials and those
registered in them is posted on onQ and outside D403 Mackintosh-Corry Hall

The tutorials are designed to break the large class environment into a smaller
discussion-friendly one. Tutorial leaders will run their tutorials in accordance with the
course instructor’s overall expectations while also drawing upon their own and the
tutorial group’s particular strengths and interests. The tutorial leaders will not simply
summarize lecture material or readings; their primary responsibility is to lead students
through some specific skill building tasks, monitor attendance and student participation,
facilitate discussion, pose questions and assist the group to reach clarification on
questions, problems, or issues that arise from the lectures, required readings, or tutorial
discussion.
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Please note: you may not switch tutorial groups after the add/drop period without
the permission of the TA Coordinator – changes will only be made on the basis of
significantly extenuating circumstances which prevent you from remaining in
your originally assigned tutorial group.

Estimated time commitment:

Activities Average Number of Total Hours

Hours Per Weeks
Week

Lectures 2 24 48

Activity/Tutorial 1 24 24
Sessions

Online Activities 2 24 48

Private Study 5 24 120

Total Hours for 10 24 240

Course

Each of the term assignments is evaluated by your tutorial leader based on the criteria
described in the assignment overview. The short answer essay exam questions on the
December and April exams are graded randomly by the teaching assistants based on
the rubric provided by the professor. The multiple-choice exams are graded by an
electronic marking machine.

In this course, some components will be graded using numerical percentage marks.
Other components will receive letter grades, which for purposes of calculating your
course average will be translated into numerical equivalents using the Faculty of Arts
and Science approved scale:
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Arts & Science Letter Grade Input Scheme

Numerical value for

Assignment mark
calculation of final mark

A+ 93
A 87
A- 82
B+ 78
B 75
B- 72
C+ 68
C 65
C- 62
D+ 58
D 55
D- 52
F48 (F+) 48
F24 (F) 24
F0 (0) 0

Your course average will then be converted to a final letter grade according to Queen’s
Official Grade Conversion Scale:

Queen’s Official Grade Conversion Scale

Numerical Course
Grade
Average (Range)

A+ 90-100
A 85-89
A- 80-84
B+ 77-79
B 73-76
B- 70-72
C+ 67-69
C 63-66
C- 60-62
D+ 57-59
D 53-56
D- 50-52
F 49 and below
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Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is constituted by the five core fundamental

values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility (see
http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/resources-2.php). These values are central to the
building, nurturing and sustaining of an academic community in which all members of
the community will thrive (see http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/academics/academic-
integrity). Adherence to the values expressed through academic integrity forms a
foundation for the “freedom of inquiry and exchange of ideas” essential to the
intellectual life of the University (see the Senate Report on Principles and Priorities at
http://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/report-principles-and-priorities).

Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the regulations concerning
academic integrity and for ensuring that their assignments conform to the principles of
academic integrity. Information on academic integrity is available in the Arts and
Science Calendar (see Academic Regulation 1) on the Arts and Science website (see
https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-calendar), and from the
instructor of this course.

Departures from academic integrity include plagiarism, use of unauthorized materials,

facilitation, forgery and falsification, and are antithetical to the development of an
academic community at Queen’s. Given the seriousness of these matters, actions
which contravene the regulation on academic integrity carry sanctions that can range
from a warning or the loss of grades on an assignment to the failure of a course to a
requirement to withdraw from the University.

Winter Term Readings

Material to be covered in week thirteen.
Engaging with the Social World (Part I)

Required Reading: “Engaging with the Social World” (pp. 7-34) in Social Structure and
Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: “Introduction” (pp. 1-5) in Social Structure and Human
Agency and in The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Kuhn, Thomas and Scientific
Paradigms” (p. 342); “Scientific Revolution” (pp. 521-2); “Metatheory” (pp. 394-5).

Additional Reading of Interest and Relevance: In The Concise Encyclopedia of

Sociology, “Science” (pp. 517-19); “Parsons, Talcott” (pp. 439-40); “Structural Functional
Theory” (pp. 624-5); “Functionalism/Neo-Functionalism” (pp. 239-40); “Conflict Theory”
(pp. 80-1); “Social Order” (pp. 572-3); “Social System” (pp. 579-80).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• understand the overall goals and scope of the text that will be used in the second
term;
• draft a "road map" of the route and material they will cover over the course of the
second term;
• explain the three ways humankind engages with the world;
• discuss the fundamental similarities shared by science and the arts;
• identify the fundamental differences between science and the arts;
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• explain Alfred Schutz's argument about the meaningful construction of the social
world, express how subjective meaning is established, the basis for inter-subjective
meaning, and how humans create different "objectivations" and their significance for
the meaningful understanding of the social world;
• indicate why sociology is a science;
• discuss the importance of language in science;
• indicate the key elements in Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions;
• identify sociology as a conceptual, scientific enterprise;
• explain some of the main features of Talcott Parsons' post-war sociology;
• express the reasons for moving beyond Parsons' sociology in the 1960s.

Material to be covered in week fourteen.

Engaging with the Social World (Part II)

Required Reading: “Engaging with the Social World” (pp. 34-56) in Social Structure
and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Structuration Theory” (pp. 627-8); “Structure and Agency” (pp. 628-9); “Bourdieu,
Pierre” (pp. 40-1); “Habitus/Field” (pp. 276-7); “Cultural Capital” (pp. 104-5); “Social
Capital” (pp. 554-5).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• explain the fundamental issues involved in “metatheory;”

• identify the importance and significance of the “discursive” nature of sociological
theory;
• understand the fundamental importance of an integrated theory of social action;
• discuss the issues related to the integration of structure and agency in sociological
thought;
• identify and explain the key concepts involved in Anthony Giddens’ “structuration
theory;”
• identify and explain Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, doxa, and economic,
cultural, and symbolic capital;
• discuss the essential elements of a reflexive sociology.

Material to be covered in week fifteen.

Economy and Society I: Work and Production (Part I)

Required Reading: “Economy and Society I: Labour, Work and Production” (pp. 61-84)
in Social Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Work,

Sociology of” (pp. 694-5); “Labor/Labor Power” (pp. 346-7); “Labor Process” (pp. 345-6).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• explain the meaning and significance of capitalism as an analytical concept;

• identify capitalism’s essential features;
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• explain the “employer–labour process–employee relationship” and its basic features

and dynamics—the explanation will include a consideration of the “inputs” the
employer and employee bring to the relationship; the resources employees and
employers bring to the relationship; the internal dynamics of the relationship and the
power differential that exists within it; the larger social dynamics of the relationship;
and the two dominant tendencies that result from the relationship.

Material to be covered in week sixteen.

Economy and Society I: Work and Production (Part II)

Required Reading: “Economy and Society I: Labour, Work and Production” (pp. 84-
118) in Social Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Taylorism” (pp. 641-2); “Braverman, Harry” (pp. 42-3); “Japanese-Style Management”
(pp. 333-4); “Fordism/Post-Fordism” (pp. 232-3); “Unions” (p. 662).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• describe E.P. Thompson’s notion of “time-work discipline;”

• identify “the table system” and its relationship to Michel Foucault’s conceptions of
docile bodies, disciplinary society, and technologies of power;
• explain Frederick Winslow Taylor and his conception of “scientific management”—
the explanation will include Taylor’s basic premises; his overall objective; the meaning
of the terms “natural” and “systematic soldiering,” and “a fair day’s work;” the
separation of planning from execution; the implications this has for “deskilling work;”
the key concept of “the task” and its ramifications for workers and management; the
three key outcomes of Taylorism as a management strategy; and the implications
Taylorism had for mass production;
• describe “Fordism” and the assembly line processes developed by Henry Ford—the
description will include the importance of “complete and consistent interchangeability
of parts,” standardization, task simplification, and the automated assembly line, and
the dynamic Fordism introduced into labour relations and negotiations;
• discuss “The Toyota System” of production and successfully compare “lean
production” to the “mass production” of Fordism;
• explain the dynamic of collective action as unionized employees negotiate with
employers—the explanation will include data on unionization in Canada; key
concerns for employees versus employers; the “instrumental monological” position of
employers versus the “dialogical” dynamic among employees; the power dynamic
between unionized employees and employers; the implications of increasing
unionized employees’ resources; and the different public perceptions of unions and
corporate interests.

Material to be covered in week seventeen.

Economy and Society II: From Say to Keynes

Required Reading: “Economy and Society II: From Say to Keynes” (pp. 119-142) in
Social Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Economic

Sociology: Neoclassical Economic Perspective” (pp. 171-2).
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After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• identify and elaborate upon the main features of Jean-Baptiste Say’s arguments
regarding the importance of the production of “utilities,” their importance for creating
economic expansion, why he believed in a laissez-faire economy, his solution to the
potential for “over-production,” and the elements behind “Say’s Law;”
• explain the importance of John Stuart Mill’s assessment of “Say’s Law;”
• identify and explain the main features of Joseph Schumpeter’s analyses of the
business cycle, the three fundamental factors, internal to the economy, that are the
sources of change and economic development and their importance, why
Schumpeter identifies innovation as the main factor in the economic history of
capitalist society, what he means by “creative destruction” and its significance, and
why Schumpeter maintains that credit “is fundamental to the understanding of the
capitalist engine;”
• identify and explain John Maynard Keynes’s concerns with the classical economic
theories of economic equilibrium, his conceptions of “effective aggregate demand
(D),” “the propensity to consume (D1),” producers’ investment in expanding
production (D2), their vital significance to his theory of employment, and his proposed
solutions to maintaining full employment.

Material to be covered in week eighteen.

Keynesianism and the “Golden Age”

Required Reading: “Keynesianism and the ‘Golden Age’,” (pp. 143-208) in Social
Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Power”

(pp. 464-5); “Post-Industrial Society” (p. 457).

Suggested Additional Reading:

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• identify and explain at least four major changes to life in North America following the
end of WWII;
• identify and account for the dramatic changes in the size of corporations during the
“Golden Age” of postwar Canada;
• discuss Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means’s arguments concerning the impact that
large corporations would have upon society as a whole, each of the three scenarios
they propose as possible outcomes from the growth of corporate concentration and
identify the one they favoured, why they felt this way and why the scenario might not
hold;
• draw upon the work of John Porter and Wallace Clement to explain the phenomenon
of a corporate elite in Canada and the significance this has for the concentration of
power in the private sector of the economy and Canadian society as a whole;
• explain the impact of American direct investment and portfolio investment in the
Canadian economy;
• identify and discuss four features of mass consumer society as it emerged during the
Golden Age and the significance of mass consumer society for the present;
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• discuss the different “financial products” discussed in the chapter that became
available in the Golden Age and explain their significance for the economy as a
whole;
• discuss the emergence of a post-industrial society, the significance of the changes in
the axial principle—the growing influence and prominence of intellectual technology
and its impact on the social structure—in the shift from an industrial to a post-
industrial society, and indicate the reasons that Daniel Bell sees a divergence among
its three main constituents—the social structure (economy, occupational system, and
stratification system), the polity, and culture;
• present data confirming the growing importance of science, its use in the expansion
of the “military-industrial complex” during the Cold War, and its implications for civilian
life during the Golden Age;
• discuss the arguments Daniel Bell makes regarding the divergence between the
social structure and culture and assess the strength of that argument, the social
changes it addresses and the importance of the social changes that took place during
the Golden Age.

February 19 to 23, 2018 Reading Week

Material to be covered in week nineteen.

Neo-Liberalism: From Panacea to Problem

Required Reading: “Neo-liberalism: From Panacea to Problem” (pp. 209-56) in Social

Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Neoliberalism” (pp. 419-20); “Globalization” (pp. 262-4); “Globalization, Consumption
and” (pp. 264-5); “Globalization, Culture and” (p. 265).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• identify the four factors that led from the Golden Age into a period that Eric
Hobsbawm describes as by “a new era of decomposition, uncertainty, and crisis;”
• discuss the main principles of the Mont Pelerin Society and the policies that they
wanted to see governments institute leading into an era of neoliberalism;
• identify and explain the significance of Margaret Thatcher’s term as Prime Minister in
the UK, her political objectives and programs, and the impact that they had upon
British society;
• identify and explain the significance of Ronald Reagan’s term as President of the US,
his political objectives and programs, and the impact that they had upon American
society;
• identify and explain the events that led to the introduction of neoliberal policies in
Canada at the federal and provincial level after Brian Mulroney became Prime
Minister and Ralph Klein and Mike Harris became the Premiers of Alberta and
Ontario respectively;
• discuss the impact that neoliberal policies had upon Canadian society;
• explain the impact of the adoption of neoliberal policies by the International Monetary
Fund on countries in the Global South;
• identify and discuss the factors that led to the financial crises in the US and Canada
as a result of neoliberal policies adopted in the US.
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Material to be covered in week twenty.

Social Inequality

Required Reading: “Social Inequality” (pp. 257-86) in Social Structure and Human
Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Meritocracy” (pp. 391-2); “Stratification and Inequality, Theories of” (pp. 622-5);
“Liberalism” (pp. 355-6); “Income Inequality and Income Mobility” (pp. 312-13);
“Inequality, Wealth” (p. 318); “Class” (pp. 65-6); “Class Conflict” (pp. 66-7); “Class
Consciousness” (p. 67).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• describe Carol Huynh’s experiences as a successful, high-performance athlete and

use them to explain the central themes sociologists focus on in the study of social
inequality;
• discuss the concept of “meritocracy;”
• describe the concepts of “equality of opportunity” and “equality of condition” and their
implications for a meritocratic order;
• identify selected indicators of income disparity in Canada and discuss their
implications for inequality in Canada;
• describe different conceptual understandings of the basis for social inequality
• explain Marx’s theory of class inequality;
• discuss Weber’s analysis of “class, status and party.”

Material to be covered in week twenty-one.

Gender Inequality

Required Reading: “Social Inequality” (pp. 286-96); “Gender Inequality” (pp. 297-313)
in Social Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Stratification: Functional and Conflict Theories” (pp. 619-20); “Stratification, Gender
and” (pp. 620-1); “Labor Markets” (pp. 344-5); “International Gendered Division of
Labor” (pp. 325-6); “Women’s Movements” (pp. 693-4); “Consciousness Raising” (pp.
81-2).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• explain Davis and Moore’s functionalist theory of social stratification theory and its
critics;
• discuss the importance of the reintroduction of class in studies of social inequality;
• explain the impact of gender on work and social inequality—the explanation will
include the goals of “first wave” feminism; the goals of “second wave” feminism; the
changed involvement of women in the paid labour force; the gender gap in earnings
and its bases; “unexplained factors” in the wage gap; the impact of “observable
wage-determining characteristics;” and the impact of market segmentation.
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Material to be covered in week twenty-two.

Gender Inequality and Feminist Sociology

Required Reading: “Gender Inequality” (pp. 313-29) in Social Structure and Human
Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Beauvoir,

Simone de” (pp. 26-7); “Intersexuality” (pp. 329-30); “Feminism” (223-4); “Friedan, Betty”
(pp. 237); “Sexual Politics” (pp. 539-40); “Patriarchy” (pp. 441-2); “Black Feminist
Thought” (p. 34); “Intersectionality” (pp. 328-9); “Feminist Standpoint Theory” (pp. 227-
8); “Postmodern Feminism” (pp. 458-9); “Femininities/Masculinities” (pp. 221-2).

Additional Reading of Interest and Relevance: In The Concise Encyclopedia of

Sociology, “Socialist Feminism” (pp. 586-7); “Cultural Feminism” (pp. 107-8); “Radical
Feminism” (pp. 491-2); “Race” (pp. 487-8); “Race, Definitions of” (490-1); “Racism,
Structural and Institutional” (p. 491); “Stratification, Race/Ethnicity and” (pp. 621-22);
“Lesbianism” (p. 354); “Compulsory Heterosexuality” (pp. 77-8); “Lesbian Feminism” (pp.
353-4); “Queer Theory” (pp. 485-6); “Womanism” (p. 691); “Women and Sexuality” (pp.
691-2); “Sexuality” (pp. 541-3); “Body and Sexuality” (pp. 38-9); “Body and Society” (pp.
39-40); “Post-modern Sexualities” (p. 459).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• identify and explain the main issues of gender inequality and the rise of feminist
sociology;
• explain the main themes in Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex—the explanation
will include the distinction between sex and gender; the rejection of binary opposites
in sex inequality; the significance of “intersexuals” and the movement towards
postmodern perspectives on gender inequality based on sex;
• discuss Judith Butler’s position that “sex” is a form of discourse that links sex and
gender through “stylized acts over time;”
• explain the main themes in Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique—the explanation will
include “feminine mystique,” the domestic labour/paid labour division and its
implication for women;
• explain the main themes in Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics—the explanation will include
the meaning of “politics;” the meaning of “sexual politics;” and the presence,
meaning, and significance of patriarchy;
• explain the broadening of the analysis of gender discrimination—the explanation will
include Barbara Smith’s analysis of the impact of race on gender inequality; Chandra
Mohanty’s critique of narrowly conceived, western feminist analyses.

Material to be covered in week twenty-three.

Deviant Behaviour and Social Problems (Part I)

Required Reading: “Deviant Behaviour and Social Problems” (pp. 331-45) in Social
Structure and Human Agency.

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology: “Deviance”

(pp. 135-6); “Deviance, Normative Definitions of” (p. 142); “Norms” (pp. 426-7);
Deviance, Theories of” (pp. 144-5); “Deviance, Positivist Theories of” (pp. 142-3);
“Deviance, Crime and” (pp. 138-9).
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Additional Reading of Interest and Relevance: In The Concise Encyclopedia of

Sociology, “Criminology” (pp. 99-100); “Crime” (pp. 93-4); “Crime, Radical/Marxist
Theories of” (pp. 96-7); “Crime, Social Control Theory of” (p. 97); “Crime, Social
Learning Theory of” (pp. 97-8).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• express the significance of deviance as “a social designation;”

• discuss the “objective” and “subjective” elements of deviance;
• explain structural or systems explanations of deviant behavior beginning with
Durkheim’s study of suicide—the explanation will include the extent to which a failure
to be integrated into society results in behaviour that is normatively deviant; the
importance of anomie and collective representations in the study of deviant
behaviour;
• explain the main aspects of Robert Merton’s “strain theory”—the explanation will
include the five possible outcomes between means and goals of social action within
Merton’s strain theory model; the behaviours behind the labels of the “conformist,”
“innovator,” “ritualist,” “retreatist,” and “radical” or “revolutionary;” the structural basis
to deviant behaviour within Merton’s paradigm;
• identify the main aspects of Robert Agnew’s “general strain theory;”
• discuss the main features of “cultural support” theories of deviant behavior—the
discussion will include Cohen’s “college boys,” “corner boys,” and “delinquent boys;”
Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin’s extension of Cohen’s work.
• explain the “cultural studies” approach to the study of deviant behaviour—the
explanation will include the way “soccer hooligans” opened up this particular
approach to the study of deviant behavior; the notion and significance of authentic
culture; the nature of British working-class lads’ worldview; the shift to broader
theories of sociology to explain behaviour across a broad range of “acceptability.”

Material to be covered in week twenty-four.

Deviant Behaviour and Social Problems (Part II): The Social Construction of
Deviant Behaviour

Required Reading: “Sociology of Deviant Behaviour” (pp. 345-64) in Social Structure

and Human Agency

Suggested Additional Reading: In The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology:

“Constructionist Perspectives” (pp. 137-8); “Sub-Culture” (pp. 629-30); “Sub-Cultures,
Deviant” (p. 630); “Cultural Studies” (pp. 110-11); “Cultural Studies, British” (pp. 111-12);
“Drugs, Drug Abuse, and Drug Policy” (pp. 161-2).

After successful completion of this week’s readings, students will be able to:

• explain in some detail the “social constructionist” approach to the study of deviant
behaviour—the explanation will include the basic premises of social constructionist
theory; the significance of the terms “claims makers,” “claims,” “conditions that
become subject to claims,” “troubling;” the six steps involved in the “natural history” of
the claims making process;
• discuss, through a case study on the use of steroids in sport, how a social
constructionist might examine the construction of performance-enhancing substances
as a troubling practice—the discussion will include John Ziegler’s decision to
distribute Dianabol among American weightlifters in 1954; Knud Jensen’s death in
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1960; Avery Brundage’s fight against professionalism in the Games; Ben Johnson’s
positive test for Stanozolol and the ensuing Dubin Commission of Inquiry into banned
substances and practices; the role BALCO played in making steroid use a major
issue in US sport; and the role of the US President in reinforcing the claims making
process; the investigation into steroid use in professional baseball; the reality of
steroid use among youth, and dangers that the claims making process has
introduced;
• discuss several issues related to drug use/abuse and drug policy.