Our First 50 Years: A Note on the University of Toronto's Department of Sociology

Abstract

With 55 full-time faculty members, the University of Toronto’s Department of Sociology is by far the largest sociology department in Canada and one of the largest in the world. Its influence is felt strongly across the country, partly because of the quantity and quality of research conducted by department members, partly because it supplies other Canadian departments with so many instructors and researchers (Wilkinson et al. 2013). Evidence of the department’s impact comes fromQS Ltd., which ranks universities and departments worldwide based on citations per faculty member, reputation as measured by surveys of academics, and other indicators of achievement. In 2013, the University of Toronto’s Department of Sociology ranked 12th among departments of sociology worldwide. Only two other Canadian departments of sociology ranked in the top 50: University of British Columbia sat in 34th place and McGill in 45th (QS 2013). In 1973, when I started my doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, things were different. Although no formal ranking existed at the time, Alberta, Carleton, McGill, and McMaster were widely considered the top departments in Canada. They had been established before the University of Toronto’s department, which was nestled (some would say smothered) under the wing of Political Economy until 1963. They boasted important, internationally known figures, including John Porter, Gwynn Nettler, Karol Krotki, Maurice Pinard, Richard Hamilton, and Immanuel Wallerstein. Meanwhile, University of Toronto’s leading light, SD Clark, had left the department in 1972 for a prestigious position at Dalhousie, and our new star, Irving Zeitlin, had only just arrived.