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Syllabus
Course Syllabus
(subject to change; for updates check course website)
Tuesday, January 30th
Introduction and overview of course
UNIT I: WHAT IS LAW, HOW DOES IT WORK, AND WHY
SHOULD WE OBEY IT?
Thursday, February 1st
What is law?
- “Law in Theory and Practice,” pp. 1-3 BEFORE THE
LAW
- “Functions of Law in Society” READER
- Richard Abel, “What do we talk about when we talk about law?” READER
- Austin Turk, “Law as a Weapon in Social Conflict” READER
Tuesday, February 6th
Who makes law? The people? Which people?
- I’m Just a Bill (film – in class)
- Romer v. Evans, pp. 174-179 BEFORE THE LAW
- Where are you geographically in the system? Local, state, federal.
- “Proposition 215,” pp. 171-173 BEFORE THE LAW
- The people decide, but how do the people decide?
Thursday, February 8th
Who makes law? To what extent is law shaped by those in power?
- Clarence Darrow, “Address to the Prisoners in the Cook County
Jail,” pp. 225-232 BEFORE THE LAW
- Mark Galanter, “Why the Haves Come out Ahead: Speculations on
the Limits of Legal Change,” pp. 81-89 BEFORE THE LAW
- Catherine MacKinnon, “Rally Against Rape” READER
Tuesday, February 13th
Do/should people obey the law?
- Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” pp. 251-254 BEFORE
THE LAW
- Harrison Tweed, Bernard G. Segal, and Herbert L. Packer, “Civil
Rights and Disobedience to Law” READER
-
Don’t Drive 55 (film – in
class)
- Available at: http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2006/03/30/55/index.html
Thursday, February 15th
Why do people obey the law?
- Peter Kropotkin, “Law and Authority,” pp. 158-163 BEFORE
THE LAW
- Peter D’Errico, “The Law is Terror Put Into Words,” pp.
246-249 BEFORE THE LAW
- Stanley Milgram, Obedience (film – in class)
Tuesday, February 20th
Why do people obey the law? (continued)
- Tom Tyler, “Why do people obey the law?” READER
Thursday, February 22nd
Paper writing workshop
Tuesday, February 27th
How does law control society?
- Herman Goldstein, “Confronting the Complexity of the Policing
Function,” pp. 265-272 BEFORE THE LAW
- Jackie Campbell, “Walking the Beat Alone: An African American
Police Officer’s Perspective on Petite Apartheid,” pp. 278-281 BEFORE
THE LAW
- Jerome Bruner, “Do Not Pass Go,” New York Review of
Books, September 25, 2003, pp. 105-11 READER
Thursday, March 1st
How does law control society? (continued)
- Florida v. Bostick, pp. 293-299 BEFORE THE LAW
- Jeffrey Rosen, “The Watchful State” WEBSITE
- Photo of the Panopticon to begin the discussion
Paper One due
at the start of class on March 6th |
UNIT II: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FORMAL LAW: The meaning of rights,
the production of legal knowledge, and the concept of legal pluralism
Tuesday, March 6th
What are rights?
- Laura Beth Nielsen, “The Work of Rights and the Work Rights Do:
A Critical Approach,” READER
- Lisa Hajjar “Human Rights,” READER
Thursday, March 8th
What do you have when you “have” a right?
- Brown v. Board of Education READER
- Charles Payne, “The Whole United States is Southern” READER
- Look back at Bostick (class 9)
Tuesday, March 13th
Rights during Wartime
- Korematsu v. United States READER
- Ronald Takaki, “The Myth of Military Necessity,” Strangers
from a Different Shore READER
- Joseph Margulies, “A Prison Beyond the Law” READER
Thursday, March 15th
The Production of Legal Knowledge. How does law know?
- Frank, “The Fight theory versus the Truth Theory,” pp. 375-380 BEFORE
THE LAW
Tuesday, March 20th & Thursday, March 22nd
No class – Spring Break
Tuesday, March 27th
The Production of Legal Knowledge. How does law know?
Thursday, March 29th
The Production of Legal Knowledge. How does law know?
- Conclusion & class discussion of Twelve Angry Men
- Dooley, “Our Juries, Our Selves: The Power, Perception, and Politics
of the Civil Jury,” pp. 450-453 BEFORE THE LAW
- Lawrence, “The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection,” pp.
460-464 BEFORE THE LAW
Tuesday, April 3rd
The Concept of Legal Pluralism
- Sally Engle Merry, “Colonial and Postcolonial Law” READER
- Mitchell Dunier, Sidewalk READER
Thursday, April 5th
Law in other cultural contexts
- Little Injustices (film – in class)
- Laura Nader, “The Case of the Spilled Chilies,” pp.89-90 BEFORE
THE LAW
Paper Two due
at start of class on April 10th |
UNIT III: LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Tuesday, April 10th
How do people think about the law? The meaning of legal
consciousness in everyday life
- Read in class:
- Franz Kafka, “Before the Law,” pp.xiii-xiv BEFORE
THE LAW
Thursday, April 12th
Legal consciousness and legal education
- Duncan Kennedy, “Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy,” pp.
351-359 BEFORE THE LAW
- Patricia Williams, “Diary of a Law Professor,” pp. 360-367 BEFORE
THE LAW
Tuesday, April 17th
No class – UMass Monday Schedule
Thursday, April 19th
Gender and race and legal consciousness
- Michael, Musheno “Legal Consciousness on the Margins of Society:
Struggles Against Stigmatization in the AIDS Crisis” READER
Tuesday, April 24th
Law and legal consciousness in everyday life
- Common Place of Law, Chapters 1 and 2
Thursday, April 26th
Law and legal consciousness in everyday life
- Common Place of Law, Chapter 4
Tuesday, May 1st
Law and legal consciousness in everyday life
- Common Place of Law, Chapter 5
Thursday, May 3rd
Law and legal consciousness in everyday life
- Common Place of Law, Chapter 6
Tuesday, May 8th
Summary and review session on legal consciousness
Thursday, May 10th
Study Day – office hours but no class
Tuesday, May 15th
Final exam in class
