Race and Ethnicity
Curriculum guideline
Lecture: 2 hrs. per week
Seminar: 2 hrs. per week
The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following: lectures, audio-visual materials including overheads and films, small group discussions oral presentations (discussion seminars) and specialist speakers.
- Introduction
- Sociological approaches to race and ethnicity
- Sociological Concepts and Theories
- Theories and concepts relating to intergroup dynamics
- Concept of race and ethnicity
- Examination of gender and class and their intersectional relationship to race and ethnicity
- Intergroup relations
- Historical context of racial and ethnic relations
- Racism and Ethnic Chauvinism
- Critical examination of problematic issues in defining race
- Discrimination, prejudice, ethnocentrism, stereotyping
- Definitions and types of racism
- Racism as a personal and a public problem
- Discussion of strategies for defeating racism
- Nation Building
- The history of colonialism on Indigenous peoples in Canada
- The racialization of Europeans and non-Europeans in Canada
- Examination of Canada’s demographic profile
- Capitalism and Social Stratification
- Ethnic and racial relations as related to socio-economic hierarchy
- Examination of the features of racial stratification
- Employment equity and managing diversity
- Multiculturalism
- The point system and immigration policy
- The refugee "dilemma"
- Consider the evolution of multiculturalism as policy
- Institutional dimensions of the social policy of multiculturalism
At the conclusion of the course, the successful student will be able to:
- Describe some of the ways in which racial and ethnic relations are affected by social factors.
- Describe and evaluate how social structural conditions influence race and ethnicity in society.
- Critically evaluate the political and economic contexts relating to race and ethnic relations.
- Describe and be able to employ key sociological concepts relating to the description and analysis of racial and ethnic dynamics and social relations.
- Apply sociological theories to important issues pertaining to race and ethnic relations.
- Critically evaluate significant social issues relating to race and ethnicity as these pertain to contemporary Canadian society.
Course evaluation is based on formative and summative elements and is in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Specific components of evaluation will include some of the following: exams made up of multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and short essay questions; essay assignment; oral presentation; and the participation in class discussions, student presentations, and group discussions.
Specific evaluation criteria will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the semester.
An example of one evaluation scheme:
| Mid-term exam | 20% |
| Essay/written assignment | 25% |
| Final exam | 25% |
| Oral presentation | 15% |
| Participation | 15% |
| Total | 100% |
Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans.
Texts will be updated periodically. Typical examples are:
- Satzewich, Vic and Nikolaos Liodakis. 2017. “Race” and Ethnicity in Canada: A Critical Introduction. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford
- Fleras, Augie. 2017. Unequal Relations: A Critical Introduction to Race, Ethnic, and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada, 8/E. Toronto: Pearson.