Political Science 774 - Law, Politics, and Society

This course on law, politics, and society takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of law in society. The focus is on the construction and the implementation of law, not necessarily what the written law is. Most of the work that we will read is empirical in nature, meaning it uses data to explain how the law operates. The readings all have a particular set of theoretical ?tools? or insights that shape the way the data is collected and how the analysis is done. As social scientists, we learn how to draw on these tools to help answer the policy or theoretical puzzles that motivate our research questions. This course draws on socio-legal approaches, comparative approaches, and political approaches to the study of everyday topics such as social stratification, judicial decision making, criminal justice systems and punishment, access to justice, and social change.