Overview

UC Berkeley Law School’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) Program offers a unique interdisciplinary graduate program leading to Ph.D. degrees for students interested in:

• The scholarly study of legal ideas and institutions from the standpoint of one or more of the basic disciplines, such as history, economics, philosophy, sociology, or political science.
• Policy analysis and applied research on law-related issues in such fields as criminal justice, poverty and discrimination, human rights, urban planning, and environmental protection.
• Preparation for teaching legal studies in graduate and undergraduate curriculums.
• Interdisciplinary preparation for teaching law.

Admission to the JSP Program does not require a juris doctor (J.D.) degree and does not lead to a J.D. degree. Students may apply to both the law school’s J.D. and JSP Programs; however, admission to one does not guarantee admission to the other.

Applicants have two options:

• To seek admission to the JSP Program alone, leading to the Ph.D. degree without a J.D. degree.
• To seek admission to both programs, leading, if admitted to both, to the J.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Completion of the first option normally takes about five years and completion of the second option includes an additional year or more.

A fundamental objective of the JSP Program is to focus the knowledge and perspectives of the social sciences and humanities on the analysis of law, legal discourses, legal institutions, and law-related policies. To this end, JSP’s faculty includes scholars from economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology.

Graduate Program

Jurisprudence and Social Policy: PhD

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Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

Catherine R. Albiston, Professor. Social movements, gender, employment law, legal profession, public interest law.
Research Profile

Robert D. Cooter, Professor. Business law, contracts, torts.
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Lauren Edelman, Professor. Organizations and employment, civil rights, social inequality, disability, research methods.
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Kinch Hoekstra, Professor. Political theory, history of philosophy .
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Christopher Kutz, Professor. Moral/political philosophy, ethics and laws of war .
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Taeku Lee, Professor. Race and ethnic politics, research methods.
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David Lieberman, Professor. History of legal ideas, legal theory .
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Calvin Morrill, Professor. Organizations, culture, social movements, education, youth, research methods.
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Dylan Penningroth, Professor. African American and U S socio-legal history.
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Victoria Plaut, Professor. Diversity/Inclusion, culture, research methods.
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Jonathan Simon, Professor. Criminal justice, punishment and society, mass incarceration.
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Sarah Song, Professor. Citizenship, migration, race, feminist theory.
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Rachel Stern, Professor. Courts, authoritarian states, globalization, China.
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Christopher Tomlins, Professor. Labor, slavery, colonization, history of contemporary legal thought.
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Franklin E. Zimring, Professor. Legal policy, criminal sanctions, policing.
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Emeritus Faculty

Malcolm M. Feeley, Professor Emeritus. Criminal law, punishment, social policy.
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Robert Kagan, Professor. Law and political science.
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Kristin Luker, Professor Emeritus. Sociology of law.
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Daniel Rubinfield, Professor. Law and economics.
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Harry Scheiber, Professor. Law and History.
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Martin Shapiro, Professor. Law and political science.
Research Profile