Political Science 797LS - ST- Law, Politics, and Society

This course takes a comparative, historical, interdisciplinary approach to the study of law as part of society and politics. It provides theoretical and methodological training for students interested in learning about law and society, political sociology, as well as domestic, international, and comparative public law. Our focus will be on classic texts within law and society, paired with contemporary work applying earlier theories in both the US and countries in the Global South. Topics include inequality related to race, gender, class, ability and geopolitics, legal mobilization, rights consciousness, criminal justice, civil courts, and organizations. Students will be expected to engage with both the theory and the research design of the various studies we read, and to use the theories to develop a conceptual framework for their own topic of study.