Studies & Degrees in Law and Society
Law and Society Study Programs
Law and Society, also called socio-legal studies, looks at law from the outside: how legal rules and institutions are shaped by society, and how they shape it in turn. Students do not learn to practise law. They use history, sociology, political science, anthropology and philosophy to ask how courts, police, legislation and rights work in real life. The Law and Society Association, the field's scholarly organisation, describes its work as social scientific, interpretive and historical analysis of law across multiple social contexts. For its members, law is found not only in the words of official documents but also in the understandings and practices of the people it governs.
Typical topics are the criminal justice system, how disputes are resolved, how juries work, human and civil rights, family law, policing, and the globalisation of law. Purdue University, for example, lists deviant behaviour, legal institutions, family law, the role of law in society and the sociology of police among the topics of its major.
Qualifications and levels
Law and Society is mainly an undergraduate subject in North America, offered inside faculties of arts and social sciences, not in law schools.
- Bachelor's major. Purdue University awards a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Society in its College of Liberal Arts. DeSales University in Pennsylvania offers a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Society of 120 credit hours, with an average time to degree of four years; 48 credit hours belong to the major and cover areas such as criminal, constitutional, business, family and environmental law. The University of Washington has a Department of Law, Societies, and Justice whose major includes a required internship course. The University of California, Irvine, offers a B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society.
- Minor. A minor is a smaller set of courses added to another major. At the University of California San Diego the Law and Society minor is open to all undergraduates and draws on disciplines from anthropology and economics to philosophy and urban studies. At New York University the minor consists of five courses and is administered by the Department of Sociology. The University of British Columbia (UBC) offers a multi-disciplinary Law and Society minor within its Bachelor of Arts.
- Graduate level. UC Irvine lists a Master of Advanced Study and a PhD in Criminology, Law and Society. The University of Washington offers a graduate certificate in socio-legal studies for PhD students from other disciplines.
A Law and Society degree is not a law degree. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), most states require lawyers to earn a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school, and becoming a lawyer usually takes seven years of full-time study after high school: four years of undergraduate study and three of law school. Some universities shorten this route. DeSales has a 3+3 partnership with Duquesne University School of Law, with three years at DeSales followed by three years of law school.
Where to study
SpainExchange lists 12 active schools for Law and Society: eight in the United States, two in Canada, one in Austria and one in Ukraine. The US schools include the University of Southern California, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, DeSales University, the University of Washington, UC San Diego, UC Irvine and New York University. In Canada the list has UBC in Vancouver and McGill University in Montreal. In Europe it has the University of Graz in Austria and the School of Law of the Lviv Ivan Franko National University in Ukraine.
Programmes in the United States and at UBC are taught in English. For the European schools, ask the university which programme covers the subject and in which language it is taught.
Careers
The subject gives a broad education, not a professional licence. The University of Washington states that its undergraduate courses develop the core skills of a liberal arts education instead of preparing for one professional path. Its alumni work in the legal field in various capacities and in business, human rights, public policy, civil rights, education and the non-profit sector.
Many students use the degree as preparation for law school. The BLS notes that most US law schools do not require a specific bachelor's degree for entry. It projects employment of lawyers to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, and employment of paralegals and legal assistants to show little or no change over the same period.
Frequently asked questions
Is Law and Society the same as a law degree?
No. It studies law as a social institution and does not qualify graduates to practise. In the United States, lawyers need a Juris Doctor from a law school after their bachelor's degree.
Is Law and Society a good pre-law subject?
It can be, because it covers legal institutions and trains reading, writing and argument. US law schools generally do not require a specific bachelor's degree, and New York University notes that its minor is not aimed specifically at pre-law students.
Can I take Law and Society as a minor?
Yes. UC San Diego, New York University and the University of British Columbia offer it as a minor alongside another main subject.
How long does a Law and Society degree take?
A US bachelor's degree normally takes four years. DeSales University lists 120 credit hours and an average time to degree of four years for its Bachelor of Arts in Law and Society.