WSEM-422 Public Law and Society (4)

This course familiarizes students with the interaction between law and society in the United States. Law serves both as a restriction as well as a protection of freedom. Law provides social stability, but it is frequently a tool used to change society. The course exposes students to frameworks from various social science disciplines and legal studies to explore how the law shapes society, politics, policy, and individuals, and how various social and political institutions shape the law. It examines how the law has influenced political, social, and economic actors (and vice versa) over time and highlights the multiple processes through which law constitutes, regulates, and promotes change in social action, identity, and institutions, as well as how scholars come to understand those processes at the local, national, and global levels. Specific topics examined include constitutionalism, law and inequality, and the legitimacy of the law and legal institutions. Usually Offered: fall and spring. Restriction: Washington Semester Program.