Family and Social Relations

Windsor’s degrees in Family and Social Relations are unique in Canada. They allow a student  to focus on any of three areas: family, sexuality and gender.  (In fact, a proposal has been passed by the program’s home department to change the name to Family, Sexuality and Gender).  While concentrating in one, students take courses in the other areas to complete their degrees.

Courses are offered through the departments of History, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, Social Work, and Women’s Studies. Most of the courses focused on families and sexuality are offered through Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology (S, A & C), and most of those on gender are found in other departments.

Degree requirements click here.  Course descriptions click here.

Below are some major themes of the program. 

Family

Windsor’s department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology (S, A & C) offers more courses about families than any other in Canada.  Topics of broad  interest covered in these courses include:

divorce - its causes and consequences;

legal issues surrounding family life; and

changes in families over time - the rise of cohabitation;

effects of having two earners on family life;

same-sex marriage;

later marriages,  delayed child-bearing and reductions in family size.

For Family and Social Relations degrees, you can take other family related courses in Psychology, Social Work or Women’s Studies.

Sexuality

Windsor’s department of  Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology also offers more courses in sexuality than any other in Canada, a recognition of the effect of sexuality on every area of life.  Topics of broad interest covered in these courses include:

• commercialization of sex (including the pornography industry and sex work);
• sexual coercion and harassment ;
• sexual health - who has it or hasn’t;
• the growing visibility and rights of gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities; and approaches to sexuality  in different societies.

Again, you can take related courses in the other departments. 

Gender                                                     

Courses on gender are available in all of the partnering departments.  Because of the sheer variety of topics covered, we will not try to overview their themes here. The best  way to see what you can choose from is to review the course descriptions. If you are interested in cross-cultural differences in gender roles or gender relations, or in a global perspective on gender, courses in cultural anthropology, whether part of this program or not, always treat gender as a major theme and courses on international development often do so as well.