Law and Social Science Seminar

This course examines the expanding relationship between social science study and legal practice. The course takes a broad survey of social science applications in law. We begin by considering the history of social science theory in law and examine and test the basic model for social science research. With this background, we then assess the ways in which social science can shape law — by helping to determine adjudicative facts, set legislative facts, and establish social frameworks for litigation. In the process, we consider a number of controversial issues in which sociology, anthropology, statistics, economics, psychology and political science have played a role in shaping legal doctrines. This course is very much hands on. We will consider studies used in actual litigation, evaluating both their methodologies and results firsthand.