LS300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lung Transplantation, Polygraph, Sentenced
19 Apr 2016
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Instructor: emily snyder esnyder@uwaterloo. ca ( subject: soc 370/ls300 ) Lecture 1 introduction to sociology of law. Concerned with the relationship between law and society. Law is social: law is created and interpreted by humans a social aspect, shaped by social relations, and social relations are shaped by law, both can shape each other. Calls into question claims of neutrality and objectivity in law. Set up as an adversarial system in which the focus is to be an legal test and rules, rather than the values of decision-makers. Everyone is subject to the law, including the state. Dangerous to abstract people from their social context. Based on typical western ideals: critiques of typical version of law. Everyone has their own ideals, neutrality and objectivity is very difficult and. Critical socio-legal perspectives are concerned with: often not desirable: social context, questions about power, relationship between race, colonialism, gender, sexuality, class, ability and the law.
