Courses ofInstruction
Law and Society
Program Faculty
Eric Barnes, Philosophy
Scott Brophy, Philosophy
Matthew Crow, History, Coordinator
Laura Free, History
Janette Gayle, History
Blaize Gervais, Religious Studies
Beth Kinne, Environmental Studies
Paul Passavant, Politics
Ed Quish, Politics
James Sutton, Sociology
Sarah Whitten, History
The law permeates our lives, shaping both our behavior and our sense of right and wrong, often in ways we are not aware. But as law has an impact on society, so, too, does society have an impact on law. Law has an internal logic, represented by the reasoning of judicial opinions, but it also has an external logic, as it is affected by social and historical forces. The purpose of the Law and Society program is to provide an opportunity for students to study the impact of law on society and of society on law. We have come to understand in recent decades how law is a truly interdisciplinary area of study. A number of disciplines have something to contribute to our understanding of law. The Law and Society program seeks to provide an avenue to an understanding of law in this broader sense. The Law and Society program offers an interdisciplinary minor; it does not offer a major.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Law and Society Program is to engage students in as broad an interdisciplinary study of law as possible. We want students to consider legal, political, interpretive, philosophical, ethical, historical, religious, environmental, economic, and cultural perspectives that have shaped how human societies build and debate principles of right, rights, and obligation. Whatever route through the program they take, a student with a Law and Society minor will be able to think critically about law, order, punishment, and legitimacy while also having an appreciation for the depth, complexity, and desire for justice that the study of law can inspire and inform.
Offerings
Law and Society Minor
interdisciplinary, 6 courses
Requirements:
Three core courses, at least one in each category, and three electives. Of the six courses in the minor, at least two must be from the social sciences, two must be from the humanities, and no more than three may be in any one department. Courses in either of the core categories may also be taken as electives. Three courses must be unique to the minor, and all courses must be completed with a C- or better. Courses taken for Credit/No Credit may not be counted toward the minor.
Cross-Listed Courses
Political Perspective Core Courses
POL 207 Governing Through Crime
BIDS 251: Sovereignty, Power, and the People
POL 264 Legal Theory
POL 289: American Political Thought
POL 332 American Constitutional Law
POL 333 Civil Rights
POL 334 Civil Liberties
POL 335 Law and Society
Philosophical Perspectives Core Courses
PHIL 151 Crime and Punishment
PHIL 156 Biomedical Ethics
PHIL 158 Debating Public Policy
PHIL 236 Philosophy of Law
PHIL 256 Health Care Policy
Humanities Electives
HIST 176 Western Civilizations and their Discontents
HIST 201 Tudor-Stuart Britain
History 208 Women in America
History 209 Medieval Women
History 220 Early Medieval Europe
HIST 233 History of American Thought to 1865
HIST 234 History of American Thought from 1865 to Present
HIST 244 US Legal and Constitutional History
HIST 300 Race and Violence in American History
HIST 304 Early American Republic, 1789-1840
HIST 306 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1840-1877
HIST 311 20th Century America, 1917-1941
HIST 312 The U.S. Since 1939
HIST 348 Black Women in the Struggle for Rights in America
HIST 395 Ocean, Law, and Empire
PHIL 232 Liberty and Community
PHIL 234 Theories of Morality: Understanding Right and Wrong
HIST 297 Law in the Pre-Modern Mediterranean
REL 290 Human Rights and Religion
REL 292 Deviance and (De)Medicalization
WRRH 326 Legal Writing
Social Sciences Electives
ECON 198 Business Law
ECON 212 Environmental Economics
ECON 319 Forensic Economics
ENV 205 Intro to Environmental Law
ENV 320 Natural Resource Law
POL 204: Modern American Conservatism
POL 325 American Presidency
SOC 258 Social Problems
SOC 265: Penology
SOC 266: Sociology of Police and Policing
SOC 362 Criminology