Sociology of Law | Università degli Studi di Milano Statale

A.Y. 2024/2025

Max ECTS

Overall hours

SSD

IUS/20

Language

Italian

Included in the following degree programmes

Sciences of Legal Services (Classe L-14)-Enrolled from Academic Year 2017/2018

Law (CLASSE LMG/01)-Enrolled from Academic Year 2014/2015

Learning objectives

This course is aimed at providing students with the conceptual and methodological tools of sociology of law, that is, the science that investigates legal phenomena with the methods of empirical sciences; the ultimate goal being the acquisition of adequate skills to the analysis of legal phenomena from a non-dogmatic perspective.
Within this framework, much time will be dedicated to the analysis of some fundamental concepts, such as the concepts of social action and social interaction, as well as the concepts of norm, law, right (including fundamental rights), social and legal change.

Expected learning outcomes

- the knowledge of the fundamental concepts and the research methods of sociology of law;
- the ability to apply the skills acquired during this course to the analysis of legal phenomena;
- the ability to critically and autonomously interpret legal phenomena in a legal-sociological way (rather than in legal-dogmatic way);
- the ability to use the acquired knowledge with argumentative consistency and an adequate command of the legal-sociological technical terminology;
- the ability to undertake—in the most possible autonomous way—in-depth studies concerning law as social phenomenon by making use of a method that should combine theoretical reflection and critical observation.

Lesson period: Second semester

Lessons timetable

Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi

Exams calendar

Single course

This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.

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Course syllabus and organization

Surname A-L

Responsible

Mancini Letizia

Lesson period

Second semester

Course structure

IUS/20 - PHILOSOPHY OF LAW - University credits: 6

Lessons: 42 hours

Professor: Mancini Letizia

Shifts:

Turno

Professor: Mancini Letizia

Surname M-Z

Responsible

Fittipaldi Edoardo

Lesson period

Second semester

Syllabus

Course syllabus

Sociology of law is the general empirical science of law. During the classes the instructor will explain and discuss some parts of Max Weber's "Fundamental Sociological Concepts [Soziologische Grundbegriffe]" e Edoardo Fittipaldi's "Norma. Una concettualizzazione per la scienza e la sociologia del diritto." The discussion of the topics addressed in these books will make it possible for the students to realize, on the one hand, how difficult it is to conceptualize social phenomena, on the other, who heuristically fruitful is the cross-fertilization of social and psychological sciences.

Prerequisites for admission

None

Teaching methods

Inverted teaching method (i.e., the students have the obligation to study assignments about 20/30 pages long PRIOR TO each class, which pages will be indicated on ARIEL). Classes will be basically a discussion of those assignments in which THE INSTRUCTOR WILL DIRECTLY ASK QUESTIONS TO THE STUDENTS to the goal of checking that they actually studied the assignements and of stimulating their speaking and critical skills. The thorough study of the assignments, along with the active participation in classroom discussions, will be taken into account in order to determine the final grade; without implying any reduction of the total amount of pages to study, as compared with non-attending students (nor any other distinction as to the program).

Teaching Resources

All students, with no distinction between attending and non-attending students must study the following 4 texts:
(1) Max Weber (a cura di Pietro Rossi), "Concetti sociologici fondamentali [Soziologische Grundbegriffe]", disponibile su ARIEL: 52 pp. Students shall replace this translation with that by Edoardo Fittipaldi & Olimpia Giuliana Loddo (or by Edoardo Fittipaldi alone) as soon as it is available either on ARIEL or in bookstores. This will be posted on ARIEL.
(2) Edoardo Fittipaldi, "Norma. Una concettualizzazione per la sociologia del diritto e le altre scienze sociali". Milano, LED: 111 pp.
(3) Vincenzo Ferrari, "Diritto e società. Elementi di sociologia del diritto". Roma-Bari: Laterza: 178 pp.
(4) Morris L. Ghezzi, Il diritto come estetica. Milano: Mimesis: pp. 13-111, 99 pp.
All in all, it's 440 pages. N.B. Also foot- and endnotes must be studied (except for texts quoted in the original). Students who will not show to have studied EACH of these texts will not pass the exam.

Assessment methods and Criteria

Oral exam