Ideology, Psychology and Law: Seminar
Spring term, Block H
M 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Professor Jon Hanson
2 classroom credits LAW-94045A
Admission with permission of instructor only. Most judges and legal scholars tend to disregard or downplay the role of ideology in the creation and implementation of laws and in the development of legal theory. Similarly, since World War II, social scientists have paid surprisingly little attention to ideology as a topic of research. That is now rapidly changing as social psychologists and other mind scientists have begun to study, among other things, the characteristics and situations of people drawn to different dogmas. The latest research suggests that ideology is more a manifestation of implicit processes, motives, and human needs than a product of careful reasoning and explicit choices. The evidence indicates that when we embrace an ideology or claim to rise above it--whether as citizens, judges or scholars--our efforts are motivated and often undermined by our social and psychological situations.
The seminar will be built largely around chapters of a book now in progress in which mind scientists and legal scholars examine the most recent research on the sources and consequences of ideology and discuss the possible implications of that research for policy, politics, law and legal theory. Students will be responsible for editing and commenting on individual chapters. Students will also write several short essays examining the implications of some of the recent social scientific research for law and legal theory--some of which may be published on The Situationist Blog or other blogs or in non-law-review periodicals. Students will share responsibility with instructor for planning and implementing this seminar.
Participation in this limited-enrollment seminar is with permission of the instructor, only. Students should have a strong interest in the topic. Interested students should send a brief statement of interest to hanson@law.harvard.edu with the words "Ideology and Psychology Seminar" in the subject line.