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Committing Sociology: Critical Perspectives on our Social World, 1st edition

Published by Pearson Canada (January 2, 2020) © 2021

  • Sarah Knudson
  • Denise Hahn

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For courses in Introductory Sociology

Our central aim, with Committing Sociology, is to show students that committing sociology can mean different things in different situations, but that it has at its core some common–and often uncomfortable–goals. These include shining a light on injustices, speaking truth to power, and not just looking at our social world from afar, but also working with communities to address social problems and push for change.

The text’s overarching critical framework underscores sociology’s aims of addressing social inequalities and working toward social change, and it considers the role of values and ideologies in guiding research processes. It aims to introduce theoretical and methodological tools for questioning inequalities and power structures, considering how sociology can give voice to vulnerable populations, and addressing shifts within the discipline from doing research on to doing research with populations and promoting empowerment through research.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Canadian examples of key issues appear throughout the chapters to demonstrate the relevance of social issues to students' local contexts, and critical discussions consider their national and international impacts.
  • Examples of community-level research projects illustrate local approaches to addressing social problems.
  • Attention to recent theoretical and research developments in major areas of the discipline explain the evolution of approaches to substantive areas and critically examine the limitations of earlier approaches.

Content Highlights

  • Both of the foundational chapters are Indigenous co-authored. The theory chapter (Chapter 2) provides an introduction to Indigenous worldviews while reflecting on the relationship between settler colonialism, Indigenous knowledge, and academic sociology, while the methods chapter (Chapter 3) includes in-depth discussion of Indigenous methodologies and methods, as well as ethical considerations for doing Indigenous focused research. A special section also discusses Indigenous research as reconciliation. Chapter 11 offers an in-depth look at crime, deviance, and the law from an Indigenous perspective in Canada.
  • For key topics in sociology that do not have their own substantive chapter (i.e., religion and spirituality, Indigenous issues, ethnicity and ethnic relations, and social movements and social change), content has been integrated across chapters. Instructors can thus choose to teach about these topics in a condensed way or as they intersect with other substantive areas.
  1. Committing sociology
  2. Framing sociological inquiry: Theoretical traditions and developments
  3. Putting ideas into practice: Methods, methodologies, and ethics
  4. Culture as context and practice
  5. Socialization, identity, and families
  6. Gender, sexualities, and intimacy
  7. Social inequality and precarity
  8. Ethnicity and ethnic relations
  9. Religion and spirituality: Private and public dimensions
  10. Education
  11. Work, occupations, and the economy
  12. Crime and the law
  13. Health and disabilities
  14. Demographic transitions and policy challenges
  15. Social movements and social change

Sarah Knudson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. She teaches in the areas of families and research methods, and also enjoys the challenge of teaching introductory sociology. Her main research focus is partnering and intimate relationships across the life course, and she is also interested in young adults' goal-setting and transition to independence. She is a strong supporter of engaged learning classrooms where students connect with and learn from their local communities, and of research that works in partnership with communities.

Denise Hahn holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Manitoba. For more than 20 years, she has taught at the Universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and, currently, Saskatchewan (in the Indigenous Studies Department). She has served as editor of the Native Studies Review. Her research is centred on the families of the early Canadian fur trade with particular emphasis on men employed by the fur trading companies who were sons of non-Indigenous fur traders and their Indigenous partners. Her teaching investigates Indigenous narratives to explore the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual teachings of the Peoples of the Plains.

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