Fall 2026Vancouver Island University

SOCI 240· Outline for F26N01· 3 credits· Sociology

Social Control and Resistance

Ask Bite

SOCI 240· Outline for F26N01· 3 credits· Sociology

Social Control and Resistance

Ask Bite

About the course

An introduction to concepts, theories, and research related to social control and resistance, which is of central concern in late-modern society. Topics may include moral regulation, dangerization, medicalization of deviance, moral panics, cults, stigma, mental illness, positive or honourable deviance, marginalization, state control, sub-cultures, strategies of resistance.

Instructor

Dr. Lauren Mayes

Email: Lauren.Mayes@viu.ca
Office: Building 356, Room 308
Office hours: Mondays/Wednesdays 11:30-12:30, 2:30-3:30, and by appt
Student ratings: Look up Lauren Mayes on Rate My Professors (opens in a new tab)Anonymous opinions on an outside site. GPA Shark does not copy or check them.
Contact notes: Replies within 2 weekdays; follow up if you haven't heard back in 48 hours. Check the outline and VIU Learn announcements first.

AI in this course

AI-generated work is not accepted

Generative AI (including ChatGPT and other writing or coding assistants) is strictly prohibited in all assignments. Studiosity is the only exception.

“Use of generative AI in this course will be considered use of an unauthorized aid, which is a form of cheating.”

Quoted from the SOCI 240 course outline

Rules that affect your grade

Summarised for students, with the outline's wording where it matters. The outline and VIULearn are authoritative.

Submit on VIULearn by 11:59 pm
All assignments go to the appropriate VIULearn location by 11:59 pm on the deadline. No email submissions. Submit as PDF (or .doc/.docx if PDF is impossible) named Firstname_Lastname_Assignment.
No make-up assignments
No substitute or make-up assignments are permitted, but the instructor can be accommodating if you communicate early and often.
“It's important that you communicate early and often about any concerns you have regarding issues that might get in your way of completing any assignments on time.”
Quoted from the course outline.
APA referencing
All written assignments use APA referencing.
Come prepared to discuss
Engaging in class discussion is vital; come to all classes prepared for respectful dialogue.

Bonus opportunities

Exam-question bonus: up to 5 points on the final exam (due Oct 21 and Dec 2).
Send the instructor a picture of a squirrel by September 22, 2026 for a bonus point on one assignment.

Texts and readings

Social deviance
Henry, S., & Howard, L. M. · 2nd ed. · Polity · 2018
RequiredAccess not stated
Additional readings (websites, journal articles, news articles, chapters)
RequiredOn the course site
Provided with links on VIU Learn and/or the VIU Library. Some media may need to be purchased.

Links

VIULearn, the texts the outline links and study material from other students. Each link says where it came from.

VIULearn

VIU's learning management system (Brightspace by D2L). The authoritative copy of announcements, grades and submissions.

VIULearn sign-inSchool serviceOpens the site home page · opens in a new tab on an external site. A service the school operates, configured for this deployment. Not specific to this course unless the outline said so.This outline does not print a VIULearn address for SOCI 240, so GPA Shark links the VIULearn home page rather than guessing a course URL. Sign in and open SOCI 240 from your course list.

Student-made study sets

Made by students, not by your school or your instructor. Nobody has checked these against the syllabus.

Search Quizlet for “SOCI 240”Unvetted searchOpens a search · opens in a new tab on an external site. A search on a third-party site. GPA Shark has not seen what comes back and does not endorse it.Opens a Quizlet search. Sets there are written by other students and may not match this syllabus — check anything you learn from them against the course materials.

Links open in a new tab on another site. GPA Shark stores only URLs a syllabus prints; the rest are labelled school services or searches.

Study help

Questions to test yourself, a rubric in plainer words, a plan built from the deadlines. It never writes or finishes work you hand in, and does less where the outline prohibits AI.

Checking whether study help is available…

Ask Bite anything about SOCI 240 — including slides, readings or an assignment brief you attach.

Where this comes from

Extracted from SOCI240_F26_Syllabus.pdf (document dated January 4, 2026) on 2026-09-10.

Attendance is worth 15% but is described on a 10-point scale.The outline says "Start with 10/10, lose one point for each absence." How the 10-point score maps to 15% is not stated.
Debate date not listedDescribed only as "at the end of the semester".
Final exam details are TBAWorth 10%; no date or format given in the outline. Check the VIU exam schedule.
The reading schedule on VIULearn stops at September 30.Weeks 1–4 are posted; nothing after that. The weeks shown here come from VIULearn, not the outline, which has no schedule at all.
The VIULearn site looks like a copy of the Spring 2026 offering.The outline file is stamped January 4, 2026, the only announcement is dated January 4, 2026, and the file posted under Week 1 is named SOCI240_S26_Outline. Check with Dr. Mayes that the dates and readings you are working from are the Fall ones.
No grade book has been set up on VIULearn for this course.Marks will not appear there, so the ones you record in GPA Shark are the only running total you have.

About the course

Instructor

Dr. Lauren Mayes

Email: Lauren.Mayes@viu.ca
Office: Building 356, Room 308
Office hours: Mondays/Wednesdays 11:30-12:30, 2:30-3:30, and by appt
Student ratings: Look up Lauren Mayes on Rate My Professors (opens in a new tab)Anonymous opinions on an outside site. GPA Shark does not copy or check them.
Contact notes: Replies within 2 weekdays; follow up if you haven't heard back in 48 hours. Check the outline and VIU Learn announcements first.

AI in this course

AI-generated work is not accepted

Generative AI (including ChatGPT and other writing or coding assistants) is strictly prohibited in all assignments. Studiosity is the only exception.

“Use of generative AI in this course will be considered use of an unauthorized aid, which is a form of cheating.”

Quoted from the SOCI 240 course outline

Rules that affect your grade

Summarised for students, with the outline's wording where it matters. The outline and VIULearn are authoritative.

Submit on VIULearn by 11:59 pm
All assignments go to the appropriate VIULearn location by 11:59 pm on the deadline. No email submissions. Submit as PDF (or .doc/.docx if PDF is impossible) named Firstname_Lastname_Assignment.
No make-up assignments
No substitute or make-up assignments are permitted, but the instructor can be accommodating if you communicate early and often.
“It's important that you communicate early and often about any concerns you have regarding issues that might get in your way of completing any assignments on time.”
Quoted from the course outline.
APA referencing
All written assignments use APA referencing.
Come prepared to discuss
Engaging in class discussion is vital; come to all classes prepared for respectful dialogue.

Bonus opportunities

Exam-question bonus: up to 5 points on the final exam (due Oct 21 and Dec 2).
Send the instructor a picture of a squirrel by September 22, 2026 for a bonus point on one assignment.

Texts and readings

Social deviance
Henry, S., & Howard, L. M. · 2nd ed. · Polity · 2018
RequiredAccess not stated
Additional readings (websites, journal articles, news articles, chapters)
RequiredOn the course site
Provided with links on VIU Learn and/or the VIU Library. Some media may need to be purchased.

Links

VIULearn, the texts the outline links and study material from other students. Each link says where it came from.

VIULearn

VIU's learning management system (Brightspace by D2L). The authoritative copy of announcements, grades and submissions.

VIULearn sign-inSchool serviceOpens the site home page · opens in a new tab on an external site. A service the school operates, configured for this deployment. Not specific to this course unless the outline said so.This outline does not print a VIULearn address for SOCI 240, so GPA Shark links the VIULearn home page rather than guessing a course URL. Sign in and open SOCI 240 from your course list.

Student-made study sets

Made by students, not by your school or your instructor. Nobody has checked these against the syllabus.

Search Quizlet for “SOCI 240”Unvetted searchOpens a search · opens in a new tab on an external site. A search on a third-party site. GPA Shark has not seen what comes back and does not endorse it.Opens a Quizlet search. Sets there are written by other students and may not match this syllabus — check anything you learn from them against the course materials.

Links open in a new tab on another site. GPA Shark stores only URLs a syllabus prints; the rest are labelled school services or searches.

Study help

Questions to test yourself, a rubric in plainer words, a plan built from the deadlines. It never writes or finishes work you hand in, and does less where the outline prohibits AI.

Checking whether study help is available…

Ask Bite anything about SOCI 240 — including slides, readings or an assignment brief you attach.

Where this comes from

Extracted from SOCI240_F26_Syllabus.pdf (document dated January 4, 2026) on 2026-09-10.

Attendance is worth 15% but is described on a 10-point scale.The outline says "Start with 10/10, lose one point for each absence." How the 10-point score maps to 15% is not stated.
Debate date not listedDescribed only as "at the end of the semester".
Final exam details are TBAWorth 10%; no date or format given in the outline. Check the VIU exam schedule.
The reading schedule on VIULearn stops at September 30.Weeks 1–4 are posted; nothing after that. The weeks shown here come from VIULearn, not the outline, which has no schedule at all.
The VIULearn site looks like a copy of the Spring 2026 offering.The outline file is stamped January 4, 2026, the only announcement is dated January 4, 2026, and the file posted under Week 1 is named SOCI240_S26_Outline. Check with Dr. Mayes that the dates and readings you are working from are the Fall ones.
No grade book has been set up on VIULearn for this course.Marks will not appear there, so the ones you record in GPA Shark are the only running total you have.