Law and Social Theory - LAWS2820

Description

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate awareness of principles of theories of law and justice and their relationship to the broader context (knowledge; developing);
2. Engage in critical analysis of legal institutions and their connection to specific social and cultural institutions (analytical skills; advanced);
3. Engage in critical analysis of the law on one hand and personal and public morality on the other (analytical skills; advanced);
4. Produce scholarly writing that demonstrates: (1) acquaintance with legal and social theoretical terminologies and styles; (2) analysis, synthesis, critical judgment, reflection and evaluation; and (3) cites a range of practical and scholarly interdisciplinary research sources (analytical skills; advanced);
5. Demonstrate effective oral communication skills by discussing and debating course concepts in a scholarly, reflective and respectful manner (professional skills; advanced);
6. Demonstrate self-management through self-assessment of capabilities and performance and use of previous feedback received in the course (professional skills; developing).

Topics

• Introduction to Modernity
• The early Marx on religion and law
• Marx on alienation and historical materialism
• Marx on historical materialism con’t
• Marx and Engels on historical materialism and law
• Marx and Pashukanis on law and commodification
• Durkheim on the concept of society and ‘the social’
• Durkheim’s sociological theory of contract and crime
• Durkheim theory of social and legal evolution
• Durkheim on social and legal pathologies in modernity
• Weber on the dialectic of rationalisation in modernity
• The dialectic of rationalisation con’t
• Weber on the forms of legitimacy
• Weber on legal rationalisation in modernity
• Social theoretical conceptions of the rule of law
• Neo-liberalism, globalisation and the rule of law
• Feminist analyses of the rule of law
• Foucault on discipline, governmentality and the rule of law

Assessment