Immigration, Law and Society

Law is everywhere within the social world. It shapes our everyday lives in countless ways by permitting, prohibiting, protecting and prosecuting citizens and non-citizens alike. This course reviews social science perspectives on law and legal institutions, with a major emphasis on immigration. Throughout, we focus on a central question within the scholarship of law and society: when and how does law matter? We explore the meaning and complexity of law, the relation between law and social change, and the social impact of law. This course centers on the connections and relationships of law and society in the American context, with significant attention to international perspectives. Students will develop analytical skills to enable informed and critical examination of law broadly construed, and identify various ways that social workers and law intersect.
This course fulfills the Human Diversity Requirement.
This course is one of SSA's global and international course offerings.