SOCI 411/441 The Sociology of Law

Nature and scope of the Sociology of Law; Law and its social significance; Social norms and law in traditional and modern societies; Major classical studies on Law; Living law and state/formal law; Legal pluralism; Sociological approaches to law: Functionalist, Marxist/Conflict, Durkheimian, Weberian, etc. perspectives; Deviance and social control in society; Mechanisms for conflict resolution: mediation, arbitration, adjudication, trial by ordeal, mob justice; honour killings, etc.; Types of law and citizens’ invocation of law in modern society; Crime: its measurement and forms; The Justice Administrative System: the structure and role of the Police, Judiciary, Prison and Human Rights Institutions; Punishment and Corrections.