Legal Studies Concentration
 

Supreme Court of the United States, Washington D.C.
 

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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.