Overview

Socio-legal Studies is the critical study of law as it is lived, experienced, and contested in social, cultural, and historical contexts. Rather than treating law as a set of fixed rules, this major asks how law is made, by whom, in whose interests, and what happens when law fails to deliver justice.

Throughout the major you will examine the institutions that make and enforce law: parliament, courts, and police, alongside the social forces that shape them. You will explore how policy is designed and how research informs legislative change, developing skills that are directly transferable to careers in law, government, advocacy, NGOs, and the public sector. Topics across the major include social justice and human rights, Indigenous law and sovereignty, policing and state power, law and culture, gender, LGBTIQ+ and race, protest, and environmental and animal law.

First-year units introduce the foundational concepts of socio-legal inquiry: how law shapes and is interpreted in everyday life, how institutions operate in practice, and how inequality, culture, and relationships influence legal outcomes. You will also develop the research methods and analytical skills needed to undertake your own socio-legal investigations.

In your senior units, you will consolidate your theoretical and methodological foundations, engaging with classical and critical legal theory, the international human rights regime, social justice, and the relationship between social movements and legal change. A capstone research unit gives you the opportunity to produce original work on a socio-legal topic of your choosing.

Socio-legal Studies complements studies in Criminology, as well as related fields such as Sociology, Law, Sustainability, and Business.

Requirements for completion

The requirements of the major and minor in Socio-legal Studies are listed in the Socio-legal Studies unit of study table.

Honours

Honours in Socio-legal Studies is an optional, additional year of full-time undergraduate study following completion of a bachelor’s degree with a major in the discipline. It provides high-achieving students an opportunity to develop research skills by undertaking advanced-level coursework and conducting a supervised but independent research project. The honours year adds greater depth to an undergraduate degree and provides a pathway to higher degree by research (e.g., PhD) studies. Honours graduates are sought after by employers who value their superior research, analytical, and communication skills.

Students complete:

• two ‘seminar’ units of study relevant to their research project: one core and one selective; and
• a substantial independent research project on an approved topic of their choice, culminating in the submission of a thesis of approximately 20,000 words. Students work on their thesis throughout the course, under the supervision of an academic staff member with expertise in the chosen area. The research should identify an area for investigation which makes an original contribution to knowledge.

Requirements and units of study for honours are listed in the Socio-legal Studies honours unit of study table.

Admission criteria

Honours in Socio-legal Studies may be undertaken in certain appended honours degrees such as the Bachelor of Arts (Honours).

Applicants must have completed:

• the requirements of a bachelor's degree from the University of Sydney, including a major in Socio-legal Studies with a minimum weighted average mark of 70, or an equivalent qualification.

Admission is subject to the availability of appropriate supervision and is not possible in Semester 2.

Students interested in undertaking Honours should contact the Discipline Honours Coordinator during the final semester of their bachelor’s degree. Information on the application process is available on the Honours page.

Contacts and further information