What is Sociology?
Sociology helps us understand how social interaction, social structure, and social behaviour function. In studying sociology, students will learn how their own lives are connected to social structures, including their origins in history.
Sociology at Augustana
Our sociology courses put the students front and centre. You'll read sources in theory courses and do research in methods courses. You'll also learn in small classes where you'll get the chance to think about your own experience as a member of society.
Program Information
Sociology is available as a:
- Contributing Discipline in the Bachelor of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies Law, Crime & Justice Studies
- Contributing Discipline in the Bachelor of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies Sustainability Studies
Academic Innovations
All programs at Augustana include a wide-ranging liberal arts Core, taught within our unique “3-11” calendar
Careers
An undergraduate degree from Augustana equips you to use your knowledge of how society shapes individuals to fuel meaningful social change in careers like:
- Child and Youth Care Worker
- Counsellor
- Public Relations Representative
- Social Worker
- and many more!
Sociology AlumnUS
Curtis Fogel
University Professor
University Professor
"At Augustana, I learned how to do primary research well before most students start," says Curtis. "With those research skills, I was able to complete a master's degree in one year and a PhD in three years."
Course Highlights
105 - Social Anthropology
Ethnographic materials from non-Western societies are utilized to examine culture, social structure, and social process. Particular attention is paid to everyday life within various types of societies and how sociological ways of knowing are enriched by an attentiveness to cross-cultural research.
218 - Global Issues
Introductory exploration of the issues of global economic development, global wealth and poverty, and global inequality. Alternative theoretical perspectives are introduced.
262 - Mass Communication
What kind of communication is mass communication, and in what ways in particular is this different from other forms of communication? What does it mean to live in an age of mass culture? The construction and character of mass society as one organizational and communicative possibility, using notions of postmodernism and post-industrialism.
263 - Social Theory of Community
Inquiry into the nature of the social, moral, and theoretic ground of human communities, taking as its starting point an examination of the sociological research on the urban/rural difference. Involved in this is an examination of the kinds of social theories that best help us understand the nature of community. For all of the above, Canada is the case study.
341 - Sociology of Food
This course places food into broader sociocultural context to better understand why we eat what we eat. Topics will include: patterns of food production, distribution and consumption; the role of rood in relation to embodiment, identities, culture, class, and gender; the socio-cultural and political-economic organization of local, national, and global food systems; the implication of the food system for health, urban-rural relations, ecological sustainability, and social justice; food as a site of power relations, contestation, and social movements. In sum, this course will offer a sociological perspective of the food system and of engagements for its social transformation.
Related Information
Geraint Osborne, PhD
Geraint's research and teaching interests are in the areas of crime, deviance and social control, political sociology, historical sociology, and qualitative methods.
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Tara Milbrandt, PhD
Tara teaches in the areas of sociological theory (classical, modern, and contemporary), introductory sociology, and contemporary culture (film, community).
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Justin Tetrault, PhD
Justin's research and teaching interests concern a range of topics, especially political movements, decolonization, and prisons.
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