Contacts | Program of Study | Application to the Program | Program Requirements | Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society | Legal Reasoning | Junior Colloquium | Focus Field | Electives | BA Seminar and Thesis | Summary of Requirements for the Major in Law, Letters, and Society | Honors | Grading | Reading and Research Courses | Law, Letters, and Society Courses

Department Website: https://llso.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

The program in Law, Letters, and Society (LLSO) is an interdisciplinary major in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division. LLSO is designed to develop analytical skills and enable informed and critical examination of law broadly construed. The organizing premise of the program is that law is a semi-autonomous domain with its own internal logic, norms, and practices but is also embedded in the broader culture and operates as a tool of social organization. Rather than situating the study of the law solely in contemporary debates in the field of American constitutional law, LLSO seeks to organize its exploration of law through the broader terms of “letters” and “society.” Some LLSO courses approach law primarily as a matter of “letters,” drawing from disciplines like English, philosophy, and political theory. Law is studied as a literary, philosophical, or historical artifact, and questions of interpretation, normative theory, and rhetorical strategy are foregrounded. Other LLSO courses fall more under the general rubric of “society” and make use of the methods of social scientific disciplines, including history, political science, economics, and sociology. Such courses analyze law as a means of social ordering and in terms of cause and effect. They examine law as an element in explanations of both historical events and patterns of social stability and change.

Application to the Program

Students apply to LLSO in their second year. All second-years will be notified by email when the application opens. Application information will also be updated on the program website. Students are evaluated on the basis of their application statement and previous performance in the College. Only a limited number of students can be admitted per year. Once admitted to the program, students may declare their major officially by meeting with their College adviser.

Program Requirements

There are five required core LLSO courses: LLSO 28040 Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society; LLSO 24200 Legal Reasoning; one Junior Colloquium; and the two-quarter BA Seminar track (LLSO 29400 BA Seminar I and LLSO 29401 BA Seminar II). In addition, students must complete a four-course Focus Field and two Electives. Courses completed before declaring the LLSO major can be counted towards major requirements. Students doing a double major are permitted to count courses being counted in other majors also towards LLSO-required courses. Students admitted to LLSO prior to Autumn Quarter 2020 can adhere entirely to the old program requirements or opt entirely into the new requirements.

Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society

LLSO 28040 Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society establishes the intellectual moorings of the program. The course has three main objectives. First, it aims to introduce students to the wide range of methodological perspectives by which law can be approached as an object of study, as well as to the broad assortment of substantive questions that can motivate research. Second, the course aims to demonstrate that, despite this variety, there are recurrent themes, patterns, practices, and problems that make law a distinctive social and conceptual phenomenon endowed with coherence as an object of scholarly attention. Third, the course is intended to show that the study of law can and should extend beyond an exclusive orientation towards contemporary practice, and that overly narrow focus on urgent present concerns may obscure important characteristics of legal thought and behavior. Moreover, the assumptions, implications, and stakes of current legal controversies may often be better understood once situated in broader social, political, historical, and philosophical contexts. Students are strongly encouraged to take Introduction to LLSO in the Autumn Quarter of either their first or second year prior to applying to LLSO. Successful completion of the course is an important factor of an application, but it does not guarantee acceptance into the program.

Legal Reasoning

The purpose of LLSO 24200 Legal Reasoning is to introduce students to the legal materials and modes of interpreting them used in contemporary legal scholarship and practice. The course is also meant to offer students a sense of the pedagogical norms and curricular arrangements of postgraduate legal education. Legal Reasoning will draw from a variety of legal sources, but the primary focus will be on legal doctrine, and the case method will be emphasized. The course is particularly geared towards students who are considering law school or a career in law. The precise content of LLSO 24200 Legal Reasoning may vary, but the focus on legal doctrine and the adoption of the practices of legal pedagogy will abide.

Junior Colloquium

In their third year, LLSO students must take one of the available Junior Colloquia. Each Junior Colloquium offers sustained engagement with a topic central to the themes of the LLSO program. What Colloquia are available will vary from year to year. The Junior Colloquium includes a significant writing requirement. This is designed to give students experience with sustained independent research and writing in preparation for the BA Thesis.

Focus Field

An undergraduate major in legal studies open to the investigation of law from the perspectives of both “letters” and “society” must be interdisciplinary and wide-ranging. This vital curricular openness must be balanced against the need for a major to have disciplinary integrity. The courses a student takes should complement each other and add up to sustained treatment of a coherent subject. LLSO uses Focus Fields to offer students in the program wide latitude to pursue their particular interests, while ensuring that each student engages in a coherent course of study. During the Autumn Quarter of their junior year, LLSO students have the option of designing their own independent research programs. These Focus Field plans are developed in consultation with and must be approved by the appropriate LLSO faculty member. The specific LLSO faculty member a student will consult with will depend on the student's Focus Field. (Students who have questions about this should reach out to the Program Administrator.) The Focus Field is centered around a basic theme or topic developed by the student. This theme or topic (a) must be related to law, broadly understood, and fall within the substantive bounds of LLSO; and (b) must be sufficiently focused and coherent. This Focus Field plan will consist of four courses that the student has taken or plans to take, which may be drawn from available offerings throughout the University of Chicago. It is not necessary that every course included in the Focus Field have a clear or explicit legal focus, but all courses included in the plan must clearly fit within the overarching topic or theme of the Focus Field (which itself must be related to law). Coursework completed before admission to LLSO may be counted as part of the Focus Field. Students who do not wish to develop an independent research program may instead opt to make “LLSO” their Focus Field. They can satisfy the Focus Field requirement by completing any four LLSO-listed courses that are not being counted to fulfill other LLSO requirements (such as the two Electives). Only courses with an LLSO designation may be counted in these “LLSO” Focus Fields.

Electives

Students must take two additional courses registered in LLSO. Any LLSO-registered course not being counted to fulfill another LLSO requirement can be used to satisfy the Elective requirement. Junior Colloquia not already being counted for the core requirement may be used towards satisfying the Elective requirement.

BA Seminar and Thesis

Every LLSO major must produce an original piece of scholarship that is animated by a question about law. This question will generally emerge out of the topics and themes explored by the student in the Focus Field coursework. The LLSO BA thesis is the length of an academic journal article, which in most cases is between 10,000 and 12,000 words. The minimum length is 8,000 words. An electronic copy of the thesis must be submitted to the Program Administrator by noon on Friday of the third week of the quarter in which the student expects to graduate.

Students are guided through the process of developing a research project and writing a thesis in the program’s two-part BA Seminar, which is offered annually during the Autumn and Winter Quarters. Participation in both parts is required. The BA Seminar is typically taken in the fourth year, but students who plan to graduate early may enroll in the third year instead. A letter grade is assigned at the end of LLSO 29400 BA Seminar I based on the student’s performance in the Autumn Quarter. The grade for LLSO 29401 BA Seminar II reflects the student’s performance in the Winter Quarter as well as the quality of the thesis, and for this reason it remains blank until the thesis has been evaluated.

The BA thesis may be written under the supervision of a faculty adviser whose area of expertise is relevant to the student’s research. The adviser can be a member of any department. Working with a faculty adviser does not excuse a student from the BA Seminar.

Students who intend to write a single thesis to fulfill the requirements of two majors may be excused from the LLSO BA Seminar if they enroll in equivalent coursework in another department. Equivalent courses are those that support students through the process of writing a BA thesis over at least two quarters. In some departments, the equivalents of the LLSO BA Seminar count for 100 units combined instead of 100 units each. In this case, students must make up the missing units either by registering for LLSO 29900 BA Thesis Preparation in the Winter Quarter of their fourth year or by counting an additional elective or Focus Field course toward their LLSO major. Students who wish to enroll in equivalent coursework must submit a petition to write a joint thesis to the LLSO Program Administrator by the first day of the quarter in which they would otherwise begin the LLSO BA Seminar.

Students who are accepted into a BA/MA program at the University are allowed to write a joint thesis but must take both parts of the LLSO BA Seminar in their fourth year alongside their MA course requirements.

Summary of Requirements for the Major in Law, Letters, and Society

LLSO 24200Legal Reasoning100
LLSO 28040Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society100
One Junior Colloquium100
Four Focus Field Courses400
Two Elective Courses200
LLSO 29400BA Seminar I100
LLSO 29401BA Seminar II100
Total Units1100

Honors

To be eligible for honors, students must maintain an overall GPA of at least 3.50 and 3.80 in the major. Of these students, those whose GPA in the major places them in the top 15 percent of their cohort are automatically considered for honors by the program’s Honors Committee. The committee confers honors on eligible students who write distinguished BA theses.

Grading

One Focus Field course may be taken Pass/Fail. One Elective course may be taken Pass/Fail. The five required core LLSO courses must all be taken for a quality grade.

Reading and Research Courses

For students with interests in pursuing relevant study that cannot be met by means of regular courses or in serving as a research assistant, there is an option of devising an LLSO Reading and Research course, LLSO 29600, to be supervised by a faculty member at the University of Chicago. A maximum of one Reading and Research course may be taken for credit and applied to the LLSO Elective requirement. Research and Reading courses must be pre-approved by the LLSO program administration and must be taken for a quality grade. Students must submit a College Reading & Research Course Form for LLSO 29600 to the Registrar’s Office and a copy of it to the LLSO Program Administrator.

Please refer to the quarterly Class Search for the most up-to-date list of course offerings.

Law, Letters, and Society Courses

LLSO 10023. Introduction to Legal Reasoning and Institutions. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to the basic principles of legal reasoning -- how to think like a lawyer -- and provide students with an overview of the legal system. Students will use rule-based and analytical reasoning to engage with hypotheticals mirroring the laws, guidelines, and standards one encounters daily, from mobile phone subscription plans to school dress codes. Students will then consider law within the framework of institutions, or the enduring set of rules and patterns that regulate behavior, such as constitutions, the criminal justice system, tort law, and the larger court system. Multiple national legal systems shall be explored in addition to the US, providing students with a global outlook and giving them the tools to evaluate why some systems work and others fail. In this highly interactive course, students will participate in simulations, actively propose and discuss hypotheticals, and work in groups to design alternative legal systems. They will also hear from guest speakers including practicing lawyers, academics from law schools, and leaders of civil society organizations, and attend court proceedings. This course is recommended for students who are interested in law as a career and for anyone who is curious about what makes our social and political world tick.

LLSO 20116. Global-Local Politics. 100 Units.

Globalizing and local forces are generating a new politics in the United States and around the world. This course explores this new politics by mapping its emerging elements: the rise of social issues, ethno-religious and regional attachments, environmentalism, gender and life-style identity issues, new social movements, transformed political parties and organized groups, and new efforts to mobilize individual citizens.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 27900, SOCI 30116, HMRT 30116, HMRT 20116, SOCI 20116, GEOG 20116, GEOG 30116

LLSO 20803. Aristophanes's Athens. 100 Units.

The comedies of Aristophanes are as uproarious, biting, and ribald today as they were more than 2,400 years ago. But they also offer a unique window onto the societal norms, expectations, and concerns as well as the more mundane experiences of Athenians in the fifth century BCE. This course will examine closely a number of Aristophanes' extant plays (in translation) in order to address topics such as the performative, ritual, and political contexts of Attic comedy, the constituency of audiences, the relationship of comedy to satire, the use of dramatic stereotypes, freedom of speech, and the limits of dissent. Please note that this course is rated Mature for adult themes and language.

Instructor(s): J. Hall     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 23608, CLCV 23608, HIST 20803, CLAS 33608, ANCM 33900, HIST 30803

LLSO 21001. Human Rights: Contemporary Issues. 100 Units.

This course examines basic human rights norms and concepts and selected contemporary human rights problems from across the globe, including human rights implications of the COVID pandemic. Beginning with an overview of the present crises and significant actors on the world stage, we will then examine the political setting for the United Nations' approval of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. The post-World War 2 period was a period of optimism and fertile ground for the establishment of a universal rights regime, given the defeat of fascism in Europe. International jurists wanted to establish a framework of rights that went beyond the nation-state, taking into consideration the partitions of India-Pakistan and Israel-Palestine - and the rising expectations of African-Americans in the U.S. and colonized peoples across Africa and Asia. But from the beginning, there were basic contradictions in a system of rights promulgated by representatives of nation-states that ruled colonial regimes, maintained de facto and de jure systems of racial discrimination, and imprisoned political dissidents and journalists. Cross-cutting themes of the course include the universalism of human rights, problems of impunity and accountability, notions of "exceptionalism," and the emerging issue of the "shamelessness" of authoritarian regimes. Students will research a human rights topic of their choosing, to be presented as either a final research paper or a group presentation.

Instructor(s): Susan Gzesh, Senior Lecturer, (The College)     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 21001, SOSC 21001, HMRT 21001, CRES 21001, LACS 21001, HIST 29304, CHST 21001

LLSO 21005. International Human Rights Law. 100 Units.

This class is an introduction to international human rights law. It will cover the main international human rights instruments (treaties, conventions, declarations, and the opinions of international courts and human rights bodies) and institutions that operate at the international level. The course will also cover the conceptual foundations of international human rights law, the organization and structure of the United Nations human rights system and regional human rights bodies. The interaction between national and international systems and their cooperation in enforcing international human rights law will also be covered. Finally, we will discuss a couple of countries, including Afghanistan under the Taliban, as case studies to highlight the challenges that face international human rights law in the contemporary world. There are no preconditions for taking this course.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 21006

LLSO 22214. The Legal Tender of Gender: Paradigms of Equality & Realities of Inequality in Gender & the Law. 100 Units.

This course will provide an introduction to the concrete legal contexts in which issues of gender and sexuality have been articulated and contested. Students will be asked to think critically about the intersections of law, society, and gender while considering both the potential and the limitations of our legal system. Students will explore how gender constructs law, and how law constructs gender. Through engaging with readings that span law and society, feminist legal theory, constitutional scholarship, and case law, students will be able to identify, situate, and debate some of the basic premises of what constitutes justice and equality in a liberal democracy. Readings will draw from primary and secondary resources related to gender & law in the US. While some court cases/case law will be read, our focus is on the broader relationship between law and society (no technical legal knowledge is required). We will study the evolution of our legal system's stance on topics including marriage/divorce, violence, discrimination, contraception/abortion, sexual orientation, privacy, Title IX, and more. Students will be invited to bring to bear a variety of feminist, queer, critical race, and intersectional tools on our discussions of the historical evolution of these issues and their current trends. Students will develop an original research paper, which will be workshopped throughout the quarter and will culminate in a symposium of students' original research on gender & law.

Instructor(s): Lara Janson     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 22213

LLSO 22403. Free Speech and the First Amendment. 100 Units.

This course will examine the Supreme Court's First Amendment jurisprudence, focusing on such issues as speech critical of the government, the hostile audience, classified information, libel, commercial advertising, obscenity, symbolic expression, campaign finance regulation and the freedom of the press

Instructor(s): Geoffrey Stone     Terms Offered: TBD

LLSO 23420. The Civil Rights Movement in the United States, 1865-Present. 100 Units.

This class examines the history of the African American Freedom Struggle in the United States from emancipation to the present. Although the course will move chronologically, our emphasis will be thematic, covering such topics as voting rights and political participation, sex and marriage rights, criminal justice reform, the role of courts, and the relationship between law and social movements. A series of research papers will be required for this class (20-25 pages). Participation may be considered in final grading.

Instructor(s): Jane Dailey     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): None

LLSO 24200. Legal Reasoning. 100 Units.

Statutory law comprises the vast majority of American law today, and cases involving how to interpret statutes are the basis of most modern legal practice. This legal reasoning course is an introduction to the legal doctrines and theories of statutory interpretation. This introduction comprises an overview of the modern regulatory state-of legislation, administrative implementation, and statutory interpretation by judges and agencies. The course draws from a variety of legal materials, although the case method is emphasized.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Open only to second-year students who are beginning the LLSO major.

LLSO 24506. The Rights of Immigrants and Refugees in Practice. 100 Units.

This course employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine the work of social justice advocacy for and by non-citizens in the U.S. including asylum seekers, immigrant workers, women as migrants, migrant children, and the undocumented. Our readings will place selected case studies in their local, national, and international context. We will draw on sources from law, history, sociology, political science, and the arts. Texts, films, and guest speakers will address the history of immigrants' rights advocacy in the Chicago and the U.S., with selected global examples. Topics will include the rights of asylum seekers, the problems of migrant workers (guest-workers and the undocumented), women and children as migrants, and the impact of the global pandemic on migration in general. The case studies will illuminate the role of immigrants as leaders and the relationship between impacted communities and the state. We will meet with journalists, elected officials, organizers, academics, artists, lawyers, and immigrant community leaders to discuss distinct approaches to migrants' rights advocacy.

Instructor(s): Susan Gzesh     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 24506, GLST 24506, HMRT 26813, CHST 24506

LLSO 24701. Human Rights: Migrant, Refugee, Citizen. 100 Units.

The fundamental principle underlying human rights is that they are inherent in the identity of all human beings, regardless of place and without regard to citizenship, nationality, or immigration status. Human rights are universal and must be respected everywhere and always. Human rights treaties and doctrines mandate that a person does not lose their human rights simply by crossing a border. While citizens enjoy certain political rights withheld from foreigners within any given nation-state, what ARE the rights of non-citizens in the contemporary world? Students will research a human rights topic of their choosing, to be presented as either a final research paper or a group presentation.

Instructor(s): Susan Gzesh, Senior Lecturer, (The College)     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter
Prerequisite(s): A prior course in Human Rights or a migration-related topic would be desirable but not necessary
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 25303, SOSC 24701, HMRT 34701, SSAD 44701, CRES 24701, HMRT 24701

LLSO 25411. Not Just the Facts: Telling About the American South. 100 Units.

The great jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once observed: "The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live." This course concerns itself with the various ways people have striven to understand the American South, past and present. We will read fiction, autobiography, and history (including meditations on how to write history). Main themes of the course include the difference between historical scholarship and writing history in fictional form; the role of the author in each and consideration of the interstitial space of autobiography; the question of authorial authenticity; and the tension between contemporary demands for truthfulness and the rejection of "truth."

Instructor(s): J. Dailey     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open to upper-level undergraduates; graduate students by consent of instructor.
Note(s): Assignments: three short papers.
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 27006, HIST 37006, HIST 27006, AMER 37006, AMER 27006

LLSO 25850. No Justice, No Speech! Free Speech and Palestine in the University and Beyond. 100 Units.

Are there-or should there be-limits to free speech? What is the relationship between free speech and hate speech? Does speech deserve special kinds of protections (or limits) in the context of the university campus? In this course, we will critically engage with these questions as they relate to political organizing and political expression on (and in) Palestine. Our course will examine these foundational questions before turning to some of the sticking points in the debate over free speech and Palestine today: What is freedom of expression in Israel-Palestine, and what does it have to do with the politics of US campuses? What is BDS, and is it intended to foster or limit academic freedom? Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitic? To consider these questions, we will do critical readings of primary texts such as the BDS guidelines issued by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) and the definition of anti-Semitism issued by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), as well as ethnographic and other accounts of the problem of political expression in Palestine today.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25850, PARR 22100, GLST 25850, NELC 25850

LLSO 25902. Contemporary Black Politics. 100 Units.

This course explores the communities, issues, actions, and arguments that comprise the contemporary field of Black politics. Our specific task is to explore the question of how have Black people engaged in politics and political struggles in the United States since the Civil Rights Movement. Each week we will take up a contemporary issue/movement/action that has shaped Black politics as we know it, including mass incarceration, the election of the country's first Black president, Barack Obama, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and intersectionality and the role of black feminism in shaping the radical freedom tradition in Black politics. Throughout the course we will attempt to situate Black politics in conversation with the literature that defines the area of study we label American politics. Is there such a thing as black politics?

Instructor(s): Cathy Cohen     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 22150, PLSC 22150, RDIN 22150

LLSO 25904. America in the Twentieth Century. 100 Units.

This is a thematic lecture course on the past 115 years of US history. The main focus of the lectures will be politics, broadly defined. The readings consist of novels and nonfiction writing, with a scattering of primary sources. Assignments: Three 1,500-word papers.

Instructor(s): J. Dailey     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): History Gateways are introductory courses meant to appeal to 1st- through 3rd-yr students who may not have done previous course work on the topic of the course; topics cover the globe and span the ages.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 17805, AMER 17805

LLSO 26383. Mapping Global Chicago: Immigration Law, Policy & Diaspora. 100 Units.

Mapping Global Chicago is an interdisciplinary research lab that undergraduates may take for course credit. In this lab, students work together to create public scholarship investigating the idea of the "global city" here in Chicago. This year, students will conduct research projects centered around immigration policies and laws, as well as the intersection of immigration with criminal justice. This course is in collaboration with Chicago Appleseed, a community driven nonprofit that advocates for fair, accessible, and anti-racist courts. In addition to working alongside Appleseed's staff on immigration court reform projects, enrolled students will court-watch, interview people working in and impacted by the immigration and legal systems, and explore diverse research methods. Students will deliver their research findings to a live audience during a final presentation. Please direct any questions to Professor Callie Maidhof (cmaidhof@uchicago.edu) and Ethan Chen (ethanjchen@uchicago.edu). Applications for the course are due by Tuesday, 12/12/2023 (11:59 pm CT), and students will receive notification about their enrollment status around the second week of the winter quarter.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Please direct any questions to Professor Callie Maidhof (cmaidhof@uchicago.edu) and Ethan Chen (ethanjchen@uchicago.edu). Applications for the course are due by Tuesday, 12/12/2023 (11:59 pm CT), and students will receive notification about their enrollment status around the second week of the winter quarter.
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 26383, ENST 26383, PBPL 26383, GLST 26383

LLSO 26509. Law and Citizenship in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course will examine law and citizenship in Latin America from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. We will explore the development of Latin American legal systems in both theory and practice, examine the ways in which the operation of these systems has shaped the nature of citizenship in the region, discuss the relationship between legal and other inequalities, and analyze some of the ways in which legal documents and practices have been studied by scholars in order to gain insight into questions of culture, nationalism, family, violence, gender, and race.

Instructor(s): B. Fischer     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): background in Latin American Studies, Latin American History, and/or legal history useful
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 36509, LACS 36509, HIST 36509, LACS 26509, HIST 26509

LLSO 27250. The Trials of Religion. 100 Units.

The rhetoric and practice of "trial" -- as testing and as adjudication -- is central to religious thought and religious practice. This course will examine the idea and the act of "trial" comparatively, via the classics of the religious literatures of Judaism and of Christianity (Genesis 22, Job, the Gospel of Mark, "The Pilgrim's Progress," Kafka), and also cinema (Dreyer's "Joan of Arc," R. & S. Elkabetz's "Gett").

Instructor(s): Richard Rosengarten     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27250

LLSO 27950. The Declaration of Independence. 100 Units.

This course offers an extended investigation of the origins, meanings, and legacies of one of the most consequential documents in world history: the Declaration of Independence. Primary and secondary readings provide a series of philosophical, political, economic, social, religious, literary, and legal perspectives on the text's sources and meanings; its drafting, circulation, and early reception in the age of the American Revolution; and its changing place in American culture and world politics over nearly 250 years. (1650-1830, 1830-1940) In addition to the noted class times, there will also be discussion sections to be scheduled once the class begins.

Instructor(s): Eric Slauter     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 27950, ENGL 17950, HIST 17604, HMRT 17950, SIGN 26039

LLSO 28005. Public International Law. 100 Units.

This course offers a broad introduction and overview of public international law. It covers several foundational issues in the discipline, including the actors who create international law, the sources of international law and the institutions that are charged with its interpretation and application. The course will also examine the strengths and weaknesses of the international law regime with a specific focus on the enforcement of its norms both internationally and domestically. A major theme of the course will explore the relationship between international law and national law and how national courts apply international law. One of the main goals of this course is to introduce students to key concepts and debates in international law, familiarize them with other disciplines in international law and sharpen their analytical skills through several assignments and exercises. This course should equip students for more advanced courses and topics in the broader field of international law.

Instructor(s): Shamshad Pasarlay     Terms Offered: Spring

LLSO 28025. Public International Law. 100 Units.

This course offers a broad introduction and overview of public international law. It covers several foundational issues in the discipline, including the actors who create international law, the sources of international law and the institutions that are charged with its interpretation and application. The course will also examine the strengths and weaknesses of the international law regime with a specific focus on the enforcement of its norms both internationally and domestically. A major theme of the course will explore the relationship between international law and national law and how national courts apply international law. One of the main goals of this course is to introduce students to key concepts and debates in international law, familiarize them with other disciplines in international law and sharpen their analytical skills through several assignments and exercises. This course should equip students for more advanced courses and topics in the broader field of international law. Note: Legal Reasoning preferred but not required for enrollment.

LLSO 28035. Marx, Revolution, and the Law. 100 Units.

To what extent can we change our world by changing our laws? We will explore this question through an intensive study of Karl Marx's writings. Although Marx is most widely known for his arguments about political economy and revolution, his earliest scholarly energies were devoted to jurisprudence and throughout his life he frequently returned to questions about the law's nature, possibilities, and limits. He did so not only in his analyses of the modern state and capitalism, but also in his efforts to document the goals, victories, and setbacks of democratic movements, labor unions, and political radicals as they navigated repressive legal systems, fought for legal reforms, and developed alternative visions of how to regulate social life. We will therefore draw on diverse genres of writing from across Marx's life as we explore the relationship between law and social transformation.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28035

LLSO 28036. Karl Marx: Early Writings. 100 Units.

This seminar is devoted to Karl Marx's writings from the 1840s. During this vibrant decade in his intellectual development, Marx explored questions about law, politics, critique, and revolution, and he studied political economy for the first time. Our primary goal will be to investigate the relationships among these preoccupations. Enrollment is limited to students who have completed their SOSC requirement.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment is limited to students who have completed their SOSC requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28036

LLSO 28038. Karl Marx: Capital, Volume I. 100 Units.

In this seminar, we study Marx's mature critique of political economy through a close reading of Capital, vol. 1. Our primary concern is to clarify the aims, method, and basic concepts of the text. Enrollment is limited to undergraduates who have completed their SOSC requirement.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Social Sciences Core
Note(s): Enrollment is limited to undergraduates who have completed their SOSC requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 21815, PLSC 28038

LLSO 28040. Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society. 100 Units.

This is an introductory lecture course intended for freshman and sophomores considering the Law, Letters, and Society (LLSO) major. The course will introduce major frameworks, themes, and methods in the study of law as a social, philosophical, and doctrinal object. Topics surveyed include: systems of legal practice; substantive areas of law; sources of lawmaking and tiers of law; paradigms of jurisprudence; constitutional structure and rights; controversies in legal interpretation; legal history; law and society; and the law/politics relation.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Students admitted to LLSO who have not yet taken Intro to LLSO must do so in their junior year. Only in exceptional circumstances will LLSO senior enrollment in Intro to LLSO be approved.

LLSO 28050. The American Constitution. 100 Units.

This is a survey of the main themes of the American Constitution-popular sovereignty, separation of powers, federalism, and rights-and of the basic techniques of constitutional interpretation. The course introduces the history and doctrines of American constitutional law primarily through the analysis of cases.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 28050

LLSO 28080. From Feudalism to Capitalism. From Capitalism to Feudalism? 100 Units.

The first half of this course will survey literature on the historical transition from feudalism to capitalism. The second half of the course will examine current debates about whether a transition is underway from capitalism to "neo-feudalism" or "techno-feudalism."

Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28080

LLSO 28091. The Origin and Development of Political Psychology: From Plato to Martha Nussbaum. 100 Units.

The course is devoted to the examination of the origin and development of political psychology, namely the application to politics of the study of the human mind. We will start with Plato's notion of the tripartite soul, devised to overcome the problems in the theory of action left open by Socrates, and to support an aristocratic arrangement of society; we will examine Aristotle's bipartite soul and its notion of weakness of the will. We will then move on to the 19th century and examine the pathbreaking work of Gustave le Bon on the psychology of crowds, which is the first attempt at studying the collective behavior of people in a situation of crowd; then Freud's application of his theory of the psyche to collective behavior, and more specifically to two established crowds -the Church and the army. Finally, we will examine some contemporary authors: Rawls' image of man as a free, rational being; Hampshire's reprise of the notion of 'parts of the soul' and his criticism of Plato; we will conclude with the role of emotions in Martha Nussbaum's thought. The first two classes will be devoted to a clarification of the notion of 'political philosophy' and to an account of the methodology in the history of political thought.

Instructor(s): Giovanni Giorgini     Terms Offered: Autumn

LLSO 28307. Populism in the United States: Past and Present. 100 Units.

This course will explore the long history of populism in the United States, a history that raises fundamental questions about the nature of US politics, law, and society. These include ongoing disputes over the ownership and control of wealth; the rights and duties of individuals to each other as well as to the commonweal; the relationship of citizens to their nation; reigning definitions of justice and the good life; and the currency of racism, jingoism, paranoia, antisemitism, and demagoguery in US democratic politics. Such large subjects will be engaged through an historical investigation, beginning with the War of Independence. The course will finish by examining the putative re-emergence of "populism" in recent years, particularly since the financial crisis of 2008, to include global comparisons.

Instructor(s): J. Levy and M. Zakim     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CCCT 28307, HIST 28307, HIST 38307

LLSO 29020. Resistance in Theory and Practice. 100 Units.

Guerrillas, liberators, and oppressed groups of all kinds have appealed to resistance as an organizational strategy, political theory, and moral justification. Resistance is violent or non-violent, active or passive, individual or collective, bodily or intellectual. Often it involves breaking the law. This course explores the diverse histories of resistance in the modern world. Readings include H. D. Thoreau's essay on civil disobedience; Angela Davis's lectures on liberation; Rosa Luxemburg's pamphlet on the mass strike; Frantz Fanon's defense of anticolonial violence; Hannah Arendt's critique of student violence; and Audre Lorde's theses on intersectional feminist resistance. To provide context, we will discuss the international labor movement; decolonization; and the contemporary politics of Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Antifa, and climate protest. Together we will test at least one hypothesis: To resist means to manipulate a regime of oppression, to subvert it from within, but never entirely to escape it.

Instructor(s): Terence Renaud     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28306

LLSO 29065. Early Theories of Capitalism. 100 Units.

The "Theories of Capitalism" sequence introduces students to classic texts in the history of economic thought. Students may take just one of the two courses: Early Theories of Capitalism or Twentieth-Century Theories of Capitalism. Enrollment in both is strongly encouraged but not required. Across the two courses, we examine diverse accounts of the forces that govern capitalist societies and the distinctive problems that emerge within them. As we do this, we also look closely at how the economists who developed these theories demarcated the economic domain of human life and we consider how their efforts to understand it were shaped by a rich body of intellectual resources. Early Theories of Capitalism focuses on the theoretical and practical concerns that animated economic writing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among these are questions about the origins of wealth and value, the effect of machines on the production process, the role of the state in economic life, and the condition and fate of the working class. Readings may include texts by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Carl Menger, and Alfred Marshall.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 23065

LLSO 29066. Twentieth-Century Theories of Capitalism. 100 Units.

The Theories of Capitalism sequence introduces students to classic texts in the history of economic thought. Students may take just one of the two courses: Early Theories of Capitalism or Twentieth-Century Theories of Capitalism. Enrollment in both is strongly encouraged but not required. Across the two courses, we examine diverse accounts of the forces that govern capitalist societies and the distinctive problems that emerge within them. As we do this, we also look closely at how the economists who developed these theories demarcated the economic domain of human life and we consider how their efforts to understand it were shaped by a rich body of intellectual resources. Many of the questions that we explore in the first part of the sequence reappear in Twentieth-Century Theories of Capitalism. Yet, in this course, we also attend to new preoccupations that emerged as capitalism continued to evolve. In Spring 2024, this course will emphasize approaches that situate capitalism within broader theories of society. Readings may include texts by Karl Polanyi, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Geoff Mann, Simon Clarke, David Graeber, and Stephanie Kelton.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 29066

LLSO 29072. American Political Development. 100 Units.

This course is a survey of American Political Development (APD), a subfield of political science, which endeavors to understand political change and continuity across time in the United States. APD examines how political culture, ideology, and the structures of government are both causes and effects of the development of political conflict and public policy. APD identifies discrete eras with distinguishing modes of political ordering and pinpoints critical turning points in history. The big questions of APD include: Are American ideas and institutions "exceptional"? What is the American state and how was it built? What has been the special significance of class and race in institutional development? This course will explore these questions alongside analyses of critical periods in American political history from the founding to the present.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Winter

LLSO 29073. States of Exception in American History. 100 Units.

Although the United States is officially a constitutional democracy, it has repeatedly involved emergency powers to suspend the constitution and abridge constitutional rights. We explore the history of these 'states of exception' in American history, from the founding era to the present. Eligible for LLSO Junior Colloquium.

Instructor(s): Joel Isaac     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28309, SCTH 20684

LLSO 29075. Neoliberalism in Europe. 100 Units.

This course will survey the theory and practice of neoliberalism in Europe, with particular attention to its intellectual architects and critics. Readings are subject to change, but may include Hayek, Röpke, Foucault, Dardot & Laval, Streeck, and Slobodian.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Summer

LLSO 29090. Topics in International and Comparative Law. 100 Units.

Based in Paris, the three week course will explore historical and contemporary European institutions that focus on economy, law and globalization.

Instructor(s): Cliff Ando, Kimberly Kay Hoang     Terms Offered: Summer
Prerequisite(s): Admission to the Paris September Program
Note(s): Instructor Consent

LLSO 29400. BA Seminar I. 100 Units.

This seminar guides students through the process of designing a BA thesis project. Through a series of weekly assignments and in-class workshops, students will develop a compelling and manageable research question, identify the sources and research methods that their project requires, and determine how their project contributes to existing scholarly debates. This work will help students to prepare a substantial BA thesis proposal by the end of the term. Students are expected to remain in the same section for BA Seminar I and BA Seminar II.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson and Evelyn Atkinson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Offered in Autumn Students are expected to remain in the same section for BA Seminar II.

LLSO 29401. BA Seminar II. 100 Units.

This seminar guides students through the process of writing and revising a BA thesis. Students will have multiple opportunities to present and receive feedback on their work in progress, including a complete draft of the thesis, which will be due at the end of the term. We will also discuss the novel challenges of writing a thesis, such as managing a large writing project and conveying specialized knowledge to non-expert readers. Students are expected to remain in the same section for BA Seminar I and BA Seminar II.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson and Evelyn Atkinson     Terms Offered: Winter

LLSO 29600. Law, Letters, and Society Reading & Research Course. 100 Units.

For students with interests in pursuing relevant study that cannot be met by means of regular courses or in serving as a research assistant, there is an option of devising an LLSO Reading and Research course, LLSO 29600, to be supervised by a faculty member at the University of Chicago. A maximum of one Reading and Research course may be taken for credit and applied to the LLSO Elective requirement.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Summer Winter

LLSO 29701. Law and Political Economy. 100 Units.

How is the global economy governed? Through what institutions, legal mechanisms, and norms? What role do Anglo-American law, international law, and other legal regimes play in the flow of capital, goods, and people across state borders? Seeking to answer these questions, this three-week intensive course draws from history, law, economics, political science, and political philosophy in order to both understand the development of global economic governance over time and critically assess what paths it might take in the future.

Instructor(s): Jonathan Levy      Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 29091

LLSO 29702. Feminist Theory and Political Economy. 100 Units.

This course has two related aims: to consider how the regulation of economic life-from the household to the global economy-has figured as an object of analysis within feminist thought; and to examine how this analysis, together with the conceptual resources of political economy, has informed feminist theories of domination, freedom, equality, rights, and justice. Readings may include works by Simone de Beauvoir, Angela Davis, bell hooks, Iris Marion Young, Catharine MacKinnon, Nancy Fraser, and Aihwa Ong. The course includes a substantial research requirement, which invites students to draw upon the insights of these theorists as they use archival sources to conduct their own analyses of economic life. Enrollment is limited to undergraduates who have completed their Social Sciences Core requirement.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment is limited to undergraduates who have completed their Social Sciences Core requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 20117, PLSC 25068

LLSO 29703. Captivity. 100 Units.

The premise for this course is that anthropology, as well as other domains of social inquiry, have unacknowledged and unredeemed debts to captivity as structure, experience, and event, from the penal colony to the slave plantation. This course is an attempt to begin to think about those debts through readings in anthropology, history, and philosophy.

Instructor(s): Darryl Li
Prerequisite(s): Open only to 3rd and 4th year students in the College, with some preference for majors in Anthropology & LLSO.
Note(s): Advanced undergraduate seminar.
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22727

LLSO 29706. Race Law. 100 Units.

Race Law takes the law of race as a distinct body of study. It examines how statutes, cases, and other legal materials create racial categories, and how the legal definitions of race are used to reinforce and establish social hierarchies and to exclude certain categories of persons from full rights-bearing legal personhood. This class explores legal cases and primary sources from colonial America to the present to map out the legal construction of race over time. Although incorporating non-legal sources to highlight that the law is not a "black box", the class focuses on the role of law in crafting our understanding of what race means. "Race Law" will be a small junior colloquium geared at students interested in pursuing the topic of law and race for their senior thesis.

Instructor(s): Evelyn Atkinson     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Junior Colloquium in Law, Letters, and Society
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 29706

LLSO 29708. Neoliberalism and its Critics. 100 Units.

In recent years, "neoliberalism" has been increasingly adopted as a catchall explanatory framework (and often also critical epithet) naming an ensemble of ideologies, political economic structures, and governance practices that have arguably been hegemonic since the late twentieth century. Despite contestation about its meaning-and even its existence-interested scholars have frequently associated neoliberalism with economic phenomena like financialization, the asset economy, globalization, and deregulation as well as political and social transformations including novel state-market relations, the extension of the market logic across society, and the production of economically rational subjects. In this seminar, we will examine neoliberalism as theorized by both proponents and critics; neoliberalism as a collection of economic, political, social, and cultural practices and institutions; and the neoliberal era as a historical period of innovations, transformations, developments, crises, and events. Our survey of neoliberal theories, practices, effects, and possibilities will cross disciplinary boundaries and draw from fields such as economics, political science, sociology, law, history, and anthropology.

Terms Offered: Autumn

LLSO 29710. Frontiers in Progressive Legal Scholarship. 100 Units.

This course will survey contemporary progressive legal scholarship in the United States. Topics are likely to include Law and Political Economy (LPE), judicial review, regulation of technology, critical race theory, and federalism, among others. This course counts as an LLSO junior colloquium.

Instructor(s): David Lebow     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Preference is given to LLSO juniors. Enrollment by consent.

LLSO 29711. Law and Religion in the Modern United States. 100 Units.

This course explores the persistent tension between law and religious faith in the United States. It will proceed loosely chronologically, beginning with the Supreme Court's first rulings on religious liberty following the Civil War and continuing into the twenty-first century. The course will also introduce students to a range of thematic issues, such as the use of state power by religious actors to regulate behavior, the place of believers (and nonbelievers) within a liberal democracy, the religious rights of corporations, and the emergence of forms of legal pluralism as religious law and civil law increasingly intersect. Readings will include case law, legal and political theorists, as well as religious voices. Students will complete a significant literature review on a topic of their choosing. This course counts as an LLSO junior colloquium.

Instructor(s): Jacob Betz     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Preference is given to LLSO juniors. Enrollment by consent.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 28711, HIST 28710

LLSO 29712. Comparative Constitutional Studies. 100 Units.

This course will aim to understand how constitutional systems in both old and new democracies address several key common themes in public law. The course is organized thematically and will begin by introducing the field of comparative constitutional studies and exploring the different ends constitutions may serve in different political contexts. It will then examine the ways in which constitutional design can help or hinder a society's project of establishing democratic government, promoting political stability, and protecting fundamental rights. From there, the course will proceed to examining institutional arrangements from a comparative perspective to understand how features of institutional design have a bearing on the political system and its democratic performance. Besides covering influential jurisdiction like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and South Africa, we will draw our examples from jurisdictions that have traditionally been overlooked in comparative constitutional law including countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and others. This course counts as a Junior Colloquium.

Instructor(s): Shamshad Pasarlay     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Legal Reasoning preferred but not required
Note(s): This course counts as an LLSO Junior Colloquium.

LLSO 29713. Comparative Constitutional Studies. 100 Units.

This course will aim to understand how constitutional systems in both old and new democracies address several key common themes in public law. The course is organized thematically and will begin by introducing the field of comparative constitutional studies and exploring the different ends constitutions may serve in different political contexts. It will then examine the ways in which constitutional design can help or hinder a society's project of establishing democratic government, promoting political stability, and protecting fundamental rights. From there, the course will proceed to examining institutional arrangements from a comparative perspective to understand how features of institutional design have a bearing on the political system and its democratic performance. Besides covering influential jurisdictions like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and South Africa, we will draw our examples from jurisdictions that have traditionally been overlooked in comparative constitutional law including countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and others. Eligible for LLSO Junior Colloquium.

Instructor(s): Shamshad Pasarlay     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Eligible for LLSO Junior Colloquium.

LLSO 29900. BA Thesis Preparation. 100 Units.

This is a reading and research course for independent study and writing related to the BA thesis.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

LLSO 29911. Global Legal History. 100 Units.

This course examines topics in legal history from the last two centuries, surveying new and canonical histories from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In recent years legal history has taken a global turn, moving away from the state-focused approach that long characterized the field. We will consider some of the questions that have come out of that turn. What counts as a "legal" institution, and who decides? How do different legal traditions - Civil Law, Sharia, Common Law, custom - interact with one another? How did law buttress or challenge ideas about race? Law can be a shield or a weapon, sometimes simultaneously. What it does depends on who is using it, and for what purpose. Readings will include history and some legal philosophy. Students will use primary sources extensively, including court records. The course will address historical topics including the use of law in European imperialism; law and the afterlife of Atlantic slavery; colonial regimes of law; the role of law in nationalist movements; law in revolutionary regimes and communist states; and contemporary debates on law enforcement and policing.

Equivalent Course(s): HIST 39911, HIST 29911


Contacts

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Director of Undergraduate Studies
Sarah Johnson


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Faculty Director

Faculty Director
Jonathan Levy


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Associate Director

Associate Director
David Lebow


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Administrative Contact

Program Administrator
Morgan Lott
HM 392
773.702.3084
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