Outcome Chart - Nova Scotia - Sociology 12

Unit 1 – Sociology: A Social Science

1.3 analyze a variety of appropriate sociological research methods

  • Describe common sociological research methods.
  • Assess the strengths and weaknesses of each method studied.
  • Select the research methods most appropriate to given scenarios.

1.4 design and conduct a sociological research project, independently or collaboratively, using

methods appropriate to sociology

  • Identify stages in the research process.
  • Formulate an appropriate research question.
  • Construct an appropriate research plan.
  • Implement their research plan.
  • Communicate the results of their research.
  • Evaluate their research process.

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Unit 2 – Culture: A Shared Human Experience

2.1 demonstrate an understanding of the concept of culture

  • Describe various elements of culture (e.g., symbols, language, norms, and values).
  • Investigate various theoretical perspectives and viewpoints that attempt to explain culture (e.g., structural functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactionism, feminism and post-modern) as well as cultural materialism and sociobiology.
  • Apply these theoretical perspectives to given cultural scenarios.
  • Evaluate influences that shape their cultural identity.

2.2 analyze factors related to cultural variation

  • Examine factors that contribute to cultural variation.
  • Investigate the role of ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, and dominant culture in cultural variation.
  • Compare pluralism to multiculturalism in a Canadian context.
  • Investigate the existence of subcultures and countercultures in Canadian society.

2.3 analyze factors related to cultural uniformity

  • Examine factors that contribute to cultural uniformity.
  • Investigate the role of popular culture in fostering cultural uniformity.
  • Formulate a hypothesis regarding the beneficial and/or detrimental effects of cultural assimilation.
  • Compare the attributes of cultural uniformity with those of cultural variation.
  • Examine the concepts of “dominant culture” and “multiculturalism” within the context of Canadian Society.

2.4 investigate the process of cultural change

  • Analyze factors that contribute to the process of cultural change.
  • Describe the role of cultural lag and cultural diffusion in the process of cultural change.
  • Assess society’s response to the process of cultural change.
  • Evaluate the beneficial and detrimental effects of cultural change.

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Unit 3 – Socialization: The Shaping of Human Behaviour

3.1 explain the process of socialization

  • Define socialization.
  • Identify various agents of socialization (e.g., media, family, peers, education, religion, work) and describe their role in the socialization process.
  • Relate the impact of agents of socialization to their behaviour and own socialization.

3.4 investigate a social issue that serves as a good example of socialization and related concepts

  • Examine the relationship between the process of socialization and the issue.
  • Assess the relationship between personality development and the issue.
  • Analyze the relationship between human learning and the issue.
  • Formulate and support a hypothesis related to the issue.

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Unit 5 – Social Control: Deviant and Conformist Behaviour

5.1 analyze ways in which societies exercise social control to achieve conformity

  • Apply appropriate theories to the concept of conformity.
  • Distinguish between formal and informal methods of social control.
  • Assess the effectiveness of various methods of social control.
  • Investigate the evolution and effectiveness of the modern corrections system.

5.2 investigate deviance as a form of social behaviour

  • Define the concept of deviance.
  • Compare how diverse cultures define, and respond to, deviance.
  • Apply appropriate theories to the concept of deviance.
  • Evaluate the positive and negative implications of deviant behaviour in a society.

5.3 investigate the issue of crime as an example of deviant behaviour

  • Distinguish between legal and sociological approaches to the study of crime.
  • Outline the sociological framework for the classification of crime.
  • Describe the social factors that contribute to the occurrence of crime.
  • Apply the sociological analysis of crime to current examples of criminal behaviour in Canadian society.

5.4 investigate the issue of youth crime and violence as an example of both deviance and conformity

  • Assess the impact of social controls on youth crime and violence.
  • Describe ways in which youth crime and violence provide examples of conformity and/or deviance.
  • Evaluate the implications of youth crime and violence for society.
  • Formulate and support a hypothesis related to youth crime and violence.

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