Sociology (Non-Thesis) (M.A.) (45 credits)
Offered by: Sociology (Faculty of Arts)
Degree: Master of Arts
Program credit weight: 45
Program Description
The M.A. in Sociology; Non-Thesis provides advanced methodological training in sociology and exposure to research in different areas of sociology.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please refer to Visual Schedule Builder. A technical issue is causing the "Terms offered" field to incorrectly report "this course is not currently offered" for many courses in the Course Catalogue.
Research Project (18 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOCI 696 | Research Paper 1. | 3 |
Research Paper 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Exploratory research for the selection of a research topic. | ||
| SOCI 697 | Research Paper 2. | 3 |
Research Paper 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Preparation, submission and approval of the proposal by the student to his/her supervisor. | ||
| SOCI 699 | Research Paper 4. | 12 |
Research Paper 4. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Completion, submission and approval of the research paper by the committee. | ||
Required Courses (18 credits)
All students must have taken these courses or take them during the first year of the program. Students granted and exemption from any one or more of these courses by the Graduate Studies Committee must substitute another substantive seminar in its place.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOCI 504 | Quantitative Methods 1. | 3 |
Quantitative Methods 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to basic regression techniques commonly used in the social sciences. Covers the least squares linear regression model in depth and may introduce models for discrete dependent variables as well as the maximum-likelihood approach to statistical inference. Emphasis on the assumptions behind regression models and correct interpretation of results. Assignments will emphasize practical aspects of quantitative analysis. | ||
| SOCI 580 | Social Research Design and Practice. | 3 |
Social Research Design and Practice. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Asking researchable sociological questions and evaluation of different research designs used to answer such questions. Development of cogent research proposals, including data collection procedures. Principles, dynamics, strengths and practical limitations of research designs. Examples from recent publications. | ||
| SOCI 600 | Qualitative Research Methods 1. | 3 |
Qualitative Research Methods 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Overview of qualitative research design and modes of data collection, particularly observation, interviewing and focus groups. Students are required to design and undertake their own qualitative research project. Introduction to computerized tools for qualitative data management, transcription and analysis. | ||
| SOCI 603 | Bibliographic Methods 1. | 3 |
Bibliographic Methods 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Research-related skills for the production of a research bibliography under the supervision of a faculty member. | ||
| SOCI 604 | Bibliographic Methods 2. | 3 |
Bibliographic Methods 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced research-related skills for the production of a research bibliography under the supervision of a faculty member. | ||
| SOCI 625D1 | Professional Development Seminar in Sociology. | 0 |
Professional Development Seminar in Sociology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Professional development of incoming graduate students in sociology. | ||
| SOCI 625D2 | Professional Development Seminar in Sociology. | 0 |
Professional Development Seminar in Sociology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Professional development of incoming graduate students in sociology. | ||
| SOCI 652 | Current Sociological Theory. | 3 |
Current Sociological Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of works in some major areas of Sociology with a focus on: antecedent thought and research in the area; the internal structure and consistency of these works; the validity of the major claims made; and the implications for future theoretical development and research. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
9 credits (at the 500, 600 or 700 level), which may be in a cognate field, subject to the approval of the graduate committee.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOCI 506 | Quantitative Methods 3. | 3 |
Quantitative Methods 3. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced statistical analyses focusing on advanced methods such as event history analysis and analysis of contingency tables. | ||
| SOCI 507 | Social Change. | 3 |
Social Change. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the major sociological theories of long term macro social change. Topics include why industrialization began in Europe instead of Asia, the divergence among societies in systems of class, gender, ethnic and racial inequality, and whether industrial society has entered a new post-industrial or post-modern phase. | ||
| SOCI 513 | Social Aspects HIV/AIDS in Africa. | 3 |
Social Aspects HIV/AIDS in Africa. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of the social causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Gender inequality, sexual behaviours, marriage systems, migration, and poverty are shaping the pandemic as well as how the pandemic is altering social, demographic and economic conditions across Africa. | ||
| SOCI 514 | Criminology. | 3 |
Criminology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of the major schools of thought that have developed to explain criminal behaviour from the emergence of modern criminology in the 18th and 19th centuries to current debates. | ||
| SOCI 515 | Medicine and Society. | 3 |
Medicine and Society. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The sociology of health and illness. Reading in areas of interest, such as: the sociology of illness, health services occupations, organizational settings of health care, the politics of change in national health service systems, and contemporary ethical issues in medical care and research. | ||
| SOCI 519 | Gender and Globalization. | 3 |
Gender and Globalization. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Focus on the diverse forces of globalization that impact the lives of men and women. Critical analysis of key theories and concepts implicated in the intersection of globalization processes with gender dynamisms. | ||
| SOCI 520 | Migration and Immigrant Groups. | 3 |
Migration and Immigrant Groups. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Review of the major demographic, economic and sociological theories of internal and international migration. The main emphasis will be on empirical research on migration and immigrant groups. | ||
| SOCI 525 | Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. | 3 |
Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth. | ||
| SOCI 526 | Indigenous Women's Health and Healthcare . | 3 |
Indigenous Women's Health and Healthcare . Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course examines (i) the health status of Indigenous women in Canada, (ii) Indigenous ways of knowing about health, (iii) healthcare services, delivery, and access for Indigenous women in rural and remote areas as well as in urban centres, (iv) and participatory health research with Indigenous communities. | ||
| SOCI 530 | Sex and Gender. | 3 |
Sex and Gender. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This seminar critically reviews theoretical perspectives and research on sex and gender in various domains of social life. It gives special emphasis to work which considers the meaning of gender and how it differs across time and place. | ||
| SOCI 535 | Sociology of the Family. | 3 |
Sociology of the Family. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This seminar reviews literature on major research areas in family. The course examines families in the past, the study of family using a life course approach, and considers selective areas which may have had significant influences on contemporary family such as work and family, family violence, and cultural variation in families. | ||
| SOCI 538 | Selected Topics in Sociology of Biomedical Knowledge. | 3 |
Selected Topics in Sociology of Biomedical Knowledge. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The seminar will examine recent work in the sociology of biomedical knowledge. It will focus on the technological shaping of biomedical knowledge, i.e., on the impact of new technologies and equipments on the development of biomedical knowledge. | ||
| SOCI 545 | Sociology of Population. | 3 |
Sociology of Population. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The classic literature of sociology of population. Drawing reciprocal linkages between social and population processes: Historical, family and labour force demography, demographic and fertility transitions, mortality, ethnic and race relations, gender, macro-structural interaction theory, and the relation of population and the environment. | ||
| SOCI 550 | Developing Societies. | 3 |
Developing Societies. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Comparison of alternative explanations of underdevelopment: the impact of social stratification, relations of domination and subordination between countries, state interference with the market. Alternative strategies of change: revolution, structural adjustment, community development and cooperatives. Students will write and present a research paper, and participate extensively in class discussion. | ||
| SOCI 571 | Deviance and Social Control. | 3 |
Deviance and Social Control. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This seminar focuses on how social groups enforce rules (and maintain social order) through coercion and socialization. It reviews current research and critiques key theoretical approaches to social control. Included are discussions of regulating institutions such as prisons and mental asylums, and the roles of gossip, manners and etiquettes. | ||
| SOCI 588 | Biosociology/Biodemography. | 3 |
Biosociology/Biodemography. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course will explore linkages between social and biological systems, their influence on health and well-being over the life course, and on health disparities. Topics include classical sociological approaches to biosocial processes, sociobiology (reductionist, but population-based), and newer demographic studies on gen-environment, epigenetic, and stress-metabolic/allostatic processes. | ||
| SOCI 590 | Social Conflict and Violence. | 3 |
Social Conflict and Violence. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course examines recent theory and research on the comparative study of social conflict and political violence. Topics covered include the causes and consequences of international wars, state repression, civil violence, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism. | ||
| SOCI 595 | Migration Governance and Stratification. | 3 |
Migration Governance and Stratification. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of how states and other actors govern the movement of people across international borders, and how this governance contributes to new and ongoing patterns of stratification by race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality. Topics include: theoretical paradigms for understanding migration governance and its relation to inequalities; the economic, social, and political factors that influence immigration and refugee policy making; the social construction of migrant categories in historical perspective; the role of international organizations and non-state actors in migration governance; and the relationship between migration governance and migrants' experiences of economic, social, and political stratification. | ||
| SOCI 601 | Qualitative Research Methods 2. | 3 |
Qualitative Research Methods 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Qualitative data interpretation and analysis. Coding, identifying themes and memo-writing. Students conclude their qualitative research project, writing up findings in the form of a publishable-quality paper. | ||
| SOCI 621 | Fixed and Random Effects. | 3 |
Fixed and Random Effects. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Fixed and random effect regression. Emphasis on longitudinal panel data and hierarchical data. | ||
| SOCI 622 | Event History Analysis. | 3 |
Event History Analysis. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Applied introduction to event history analysis, a set of statistical methods used to analyze changes from one state to another (i.e. transitions) and the effects of independent variables on the timing and likelihood of these transitions. | ||
| SOCI 623 | Latent Variable Models. | 3 |
Latent Variable Models. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Latent variable models attempt to explain complex relations between manifest/observed variables by simple relations between these variables and an underlying unobservable or “latent” structure. Topics include both cross-sectional (Latent Class, factor analysis) and longitudinal (Latent Transition/Hidden Markov, Latent Class Growth Analysis, Growth Mixture Models) versions. | ||
| SOCI 624 | Social Networks. | 3 |
Social Networks. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Social networks from various standpoints, including classical theory, formal models, methods for empirical analysis, and substantive applications. | ||
| SOCI 631D1 | Informing Social Policy with Canadian Data. | 3 |
Informing Social Policy with Canadian Data. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Tools needed to work with complex Canadian surveys in order to address social issues. Theoretical sessions given by experts from the academic community and statistical agencies are combined with laboratory workshops where students apply advanced statistical methods to survey data and complete their own research projects. | ||
| SOCI 631D2 | Informing Social Policy with Canadian Data. | 3 |
Informing Social Policy with Canadian Data. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Tools needed to work with complex Canadian surveys in order to address social issues. Theoretical sessions given by experts from the academic community and statistical agencies are combined with laboratory workshops where students apply advanced statistical methods to survey data and complete their own research projects. | ||
| SOCI 720 | Reading in Social Theory. | 3 |
Reading in Social Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Supervised readings in social theory supervised by a member of staff. Topics will be chosen to suit individual interests. | ||
| SOCI 730 | Reading and Research. | 3 |
Reading and Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Supervised readings and research supervised by a memeber of staff. Topics will be chosen to suit individual interests. | ||