| Unit name | Socio-Legal Studies |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWD30122 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Emeritus Professor. Morag McDermont |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Socio-legal studies has emerged as an important set of diverse approaches to the study of legal phenomena over the past thirty or forty years. The general concerns of socio-legal studies are about the practical operation of law in society and how society is reflected in law. From a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives, socio-legal approaches usually do one or more of the following (all of which go well beyond traditional doctrinal analysis): 1) they study 'law in action' as opposed to 'law in the books', often emphasising the gap between the two; 2) they investigate the place of law in relation to other social institutions: for example, what is the role of law in the workplace, or how does law shape family dynamics, or what effect does law have on local government?; 3) they consider law in the context of broader social theories, for example, those of Marx, Weber, Durkheim or Foucault.
