LAW4130 - Law and social theory 406

Leader(s): Semester Two: Patrick Emerton

Offered

Clayton Second semester 2009 (Day)

Synopsis

The unit examanes: the notion of 'social theory' and its relevance to an understanding of the law; history, industrial society and 'modernity'; law, and the rule of law, as a social phenomenon; law and social solidarity (Durkheim); law as a system of social rules (Hart, Dworkin, Critical Legal Studies); Marxist analysis of law; criticisms of the Marxist analysis (Thompson, Williams, Krygier, Cohen, Rawls); post-Marxist critical approaches to law (Habermas, Foucault); law and modernity (Weber).

Objectives

Students will acquire or develop

1. an awareness of the significance of social theory to the understanding of law as a social phenomenon;
2. a familiarity with a number of classical and contemporary social theoretical approaches with implications for the study of legal topics;
3. an awareness of the nature of social theoretic scholarship, and of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings that distinguish research and scholarship in the social sciences and humanities from research in law;
4. the ability to read and to critically engage with primary texts in the social theoretic tradition; and
5. the capacity to undertake independent research on a socio-legal topic and to engage in sustained critical analysis in written assessment work.

Assessment

Research essay (4000 words): 50%
Examination (2 hours writing time plus 10 minutes reading/ settling time): 50%

Contact hours

Three hours of lectures per week.

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104