Law and Social Order

3 Credit Hours

This course provides an advanced introduction to social scientific analyses of law. The central issue it addresses is the relationship between law and the distribution of power in society. Thus the course examines how social variables affect the structure and functioning of legal institutions, as well as how the law may reflect and reshape the organization of society. The first third of the course considers the nature and origins of the law and draws heavily on anthropological and historical studies of nonwestern legal systems. We will then review conceptions of law among classic and contemporary social theorists. The remainder of the course emphasizes the American legal system. It analyzes the social structure of the American legal profession, the system of civil litigation, and law as an instrument of social control. It then examines the relationship between law and social change as revealed in selected areas of private and public law, including torts, school desegragation, and discrimination. The course concludes by looking at the legitimacy of legal institutions in the United States and elsewhere. Evaluation: Performance will be evaluated based on class participation, two short writing assignments, and a final exam or a research paper. These will be weighted as follows: participation - 25 points; each assignment - 25 points; final exam or paper - 100 points. Students who elect to write a paper instead of taking the final exam must submit a written proposal by the fourth week of class, which is subject to approval by the instructor. The final exam will be an in-class exam on questions distributed a week in advance. Teaching method: Texts: