Legal Studies Concentration
Supreme Court of the United States, Washington D.C.
The Legal Studies Concentration introduces students to the academic field of legal studies. Scholars in legal studies draw on disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. The concentration likewise expects students to sample the breadth of legal studies as an interdisciplinary field by exploring the law from multiple perspectives.
Students will study legal texts and practices, the role of law in processes of social change, and the relationship of law to other forms of intellectual inquiry. Concentrators will develop analytical skills commonly associated with legal reasoning, gain an understanding of the practice of law in the United States and other nations, and explore law’s relationship to social structures such as politics, economics, and identity.
Concentration requirements: four subjects, selected in consultation with the Concentration Advisor, with at least two from the “Law and Social Science” subfield. A HASS Concentration may include only one subject that also counts toward the HASS Distribution Requirement. Additional subjects cannot count as HASS Distribution subjects in your degree audit.
Theory and Philosophy of Law
17.01J/24.04J Justice; CI-H (HASS-H)
17.021J/24.235J Philosophy of Law (HASS-H)
17.035J/21H.181J Libertarianism in History (HASS-H)
Law and Social Science
11.166 Law, Social Movements, and Public Policy: Comparative and International Experiences (HASS-S)
17.251 Congress and the American Political System I (HASS-S)
17.261 Congress and the American Political System II (HASS-S)
21H.227 Constitutional Law in U.S. History (HASS-S)
Law and Policy
1.801J/11.021J/17.393J/IDS.060J Environmental Law, Policy and Economics: Pollution Prevention and Control (HASS-S)
11.148 Environmental Justice: Law and Policy (HASS-S)
11.401 Introduction to Housing, Community and Economic Development (Graduate level)
21H.319 Race, Crime, and Citizenship in American Law (HASS-S)
21H.320J/WGS.161J Gender and the Law in U.S. History (HASS-H)
STS.085J/6.805J Foundations of Information Policy (HASS-S)
Students may count subjects taken at Wellesley and Harvard with permission of the Concentration Advisor. Relevant subjects that are no longer offered and subjects with variable topics (such as “special subjects” or “selected topics” courses) may also be counted at the discretion of the Concentration Advisor.
Additional information can be obtained from the Concentration Advisor, Christopher Capozzola, E51-284, x2-4960, or from the History Office, E51-255, x-3-4965,
or by emailing shass-ug@mit.edu.