Socio-Legal Studies
Overview
| This page was first published on 13 November 2025 and was last amended on 26 November 2025. View details of the changes below. |
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Socio-Legal Studies is the study of legal ideas, practices and institutions in their social, cultural and historical contexts. In this program of study, you will examine the institutions that make and enforce laws –parliament, the courts and the police. You will also study how policy is developed and implemented in relation to law and social justice issues. Throughout the major you will learn about legal practices across a diverse range of topics. These include arrest and imprisonment, Indigenous peoples' experience of law and policing, how law has shaped the LGBTIQA+ communities, surveillance, protest, and the development of human rights. Throughout, you will consider the broader question of what constitutes 'justice'.
In your first-year units you will be introduced to the key ideas and concepts that socio-legal scholars have developed to help understand the world. You will gain an understanding of the foundations of the Australian legal system and examine how law and society interact by engaging with contemporary socio-legal issues and policy. You will also become familiar with the methods and techniques that will enable you to undertake your own research. Your senior units will consolidate your grasp of theory, research methods and enable you to analyse particular socio-legal topics and issues. These include, the philosophy of law and justice, gender and the law, race, law and human rights, animals and the environment and law, the changing international regime of human rights and enforcement, social movement activism and forms of law and policing.
You will engage with these aspects of socio-legal studies in lectures and tutorials, but also in the real world. You will learn to write and think in socio-legal terms using essays, reports, oral group work, posters, debates, and new media.
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.
Advanced coursework
Students enrolled in the final (fourth) year of a Bachelor of Advanced Studies combined degree are required to complete a minimum of 24 credit points of advanced coursework, including a minimum of 12 credit points of project units.
Honours
Honours in Socio-legal Studies is an 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 a 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; and
- For pre-July 2024 students undertaking a Bachelor of Advanced Studies: a second major.
Admission is subject to the availability of appropriate supervision.
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.
