Focal Concerns
of Sociologists as Study Aids
to Seeing the Big Picture for the
Soci 309 Mid-Term Test
C7MP2S
The term in the box stands for the following
focal concerns of sociologists:
Causes
Consequences Conditions
Social Classes
Conflict/Contradiction
Social Control
Comparisons Meanings
Power
Processes
Structures
Proceed through the following slides for
examples of course material pertaining to
each respective term. Can you add any1
other examples?

Causes
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Of Alberta’s conservatism (Palmers)
Of the rise of Social Credit (Palmers)
Of the rise of the Tories (Palmers)
Of the Calgary-Edmonton rivalry
Factors Shaping Your Identity (Assign #1)
Of one region standing out in certain
respects (Lecture on Alberta regions)
Of FN family dysfunction & poverty (Lect)
Of Alberta’s high divorce rate (class discussn)
Of FN community political dysfunction
(Crowfoot)

Of generalized distrust on-reserve
(Crowfoot)
Consequences / Legacies
(Looking at the causal relationship
from the other end)
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Of rapid social/economic change (Palmers)
Of the outbreak of WW II for prairie
settlement
(Lecture)
Of the Palliser expedition (1st reading)
Of the Leduc oil discovery
Of a boom and bust economy
(esp. on family, as in video)
Of scrip being issued to Metis (Lecture)
Of colonialism (esp. in the form of
residential schools & Indian Act)
Of the FN age structure (Lecture)
Of nepotism (Crowfoot)
Of the $310 mil. payment to Metis (Lect.)
Of “the gaze” for Black youths (Kelly)
Conditions
Normally, this is used in terms of
the conditions under which a
particular relationship between
two variables applies. However,
we can use it more broadly here.
Examples:
What were the conditions of the Great
Depression like in Alberta?
What are the conditions (criteria) for
declaring an adult interdependent
relationship to be dissolved?
What are the conditions for alienating
Metis settlement land?
Does conjugal happiness exist at equally
high levels for married and commonlaw couples?
Social Classes

What social classes
constituted the power base of
the UFA? Socreds?
Lougheed’s Tories?

Housing, education, and
income differences among
regions of Alberta

What are the factors
contributing to keeping some
First Nation individuals in the
lower class?
Conflict / Contradictions


Rhetoric vs reality in child welfare
(Lect.)
Govt’s violation of fundamental values
e.g., fairness, equality, security, respect
for human dignity

Federal-provincial energy wars
(Lecture)
 Labour strife (e.g., CPR; Crowsnest Pass)
 Ethnic & Racial Conflict, esp. Nativism (Lect.)
 Farmers versus CPR
(Lecture)
 Aberhart vs eastern financiers (Reading #1)
 Prov. govt. bureaucrats undermining Getty
on Lubicon deal
(Lecture)
 Divorce and family discord
(Lecture)
 The paradox of FN attempts to preserve
“Indian-ness”
(Crowfoot, p. 323)
 Contradictions built into the role of FN chief
(Crowfoot, p. 309)

Contradictions in community members’
expectations of FN chief (Crowfoot, p. 307-8)
Social Control
“The Gaze”
 Anti-Hutterite legislation
 Anti-Japanese municipal by-laws
 Total institutions & coerced assim.
 The Indian Act
 Govt’s raid on Metis offices
 Divide and conquer tactics used by
federal govt against Lubicons
 Cross-burnings
 NWMP and the whiskey trade

NOTE: The use of legislation for social
control; minorities as frequent objects
of social control.
COMPARISONS

Regions of Alberta with each other,
incl. Calgary with Edmonton

Alberta with Canada (e.g., fertility
rates; regions section)

Alberta with other provinces

First Nations’ situation with the
Metis’ situation
(Lecture)

Support base of UFA vs Social Credit
vs Tories
(Palmers)
Meanings
(Including Symbols
& Interpretations)
 Of
growing up Black
(Kelly)
 Of ‘the glare’ as resistance
(Kelly)
 Of treaties to FN leaders, to the
courts, & to government
(Lect.)
 Symbolism of the NEP
(Lect.)
 Of being an Albertan
(Assignmt #1)
 Western alienation
 Happiness in families (conjugal
and children)
Power

Augmentation of state power under
Lougheed’s province-building
 Power struggle of “the energy wars”
 Power imbalance in total institutions
 Imposition of colonial regime on FNs
e.g., extensive and arbitrary powers of
Min. & Cab. under Indian Act

Alberta govt’s abuse of power re:
Lubicons, prohibition on land caveats,
and raids of Metis offices
Processes
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Immigration & settling of prairies
Subordination/colonization of FNs
Interprovincial migration
“Othering”
Province-building & Nation-building
Boom and bust
Urbanization
Family formation & dissolution
Inter-generational transmission of
dysfunction
Time use
Structures

The State and its bureaucracy

New family structures
(e.g., adult interdependent partnerships)

FN family as a mediating institution
 Demographic structure (e.g., pop. Pyramids)
 Legislation (e.g., NRTA of 1930; the Metis
statutes of 1990; Charter of R&F)

Institutional racism (e.g., giraffe & elephant)
 Treaties as structures of accommodation