Faculty Books
Laura Beth Nielsen
Associate Professor
Director of Legal Studies
Contacts:
Sociology:
1808 Chicago Avenue,
Room 209
Phone: (847) 491-3718
Legal Studies:
1860 Campus Drive
Phone: (847) 467-2207
American Bar Foundation:
Phone: (312) 988-6574
l-nielsen@northwestern.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Areas of Interest
Sociology of Law
Inequality
Gender
Race
Relevant Link
American Bar Foundation
Center for Legal Studies
Biography
Laura Beth Nielsen is a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation as well as an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Legal Studies at Northwestern University. She is a sociologist and lawyer with degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Nielsen’s research focuses on law’s capacity for social change. Her primary field is the sociology of law, with particular interests in legal consciousness (how ordinary people understand the law) and the relationship between law and inequalities of race, gender, and class. Her first monograph, License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Public Speech, (Princeton University Press, 2004) studies racist and sexist street speech, targets’ reactions and responses to it, and attitudes about using law to deal with such speech.
In addition, she is the author of numerous articles published in the UCLA Law Review, Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Law and Policy, Stanford Journal of Law and Policy, and the Wisconsin Law Review. She is also the recipient of grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and the MacArthur Foundation.
Professor Nielsen is an expert in the areas of sexual harassment in the workplace and beyond, employment civil rights of all sorts including pregnancy, pay, race, sex, national origin, and is a scholar of the legal profession.
Courses Taught
SOCIOL 206: Law and Society
Books
Theoretical and Empirical Studies of Rights
Ashgate, 2007
Handbook of Employment Discrimination Research: Rights and Realities
(with Robert L. Nelson), Springer, 2005
New Civil Rights Research: A Constitutive Approach
(with Fleury-Steiner), Ashgate, 2006
Publications
Social Movements, Social Processes: A Response to Gerald Rosenberg
Law Review, 2009
Diverging Paths: Changing Conceptions of Employment Discrimination in Law and the Social Sciences
(with Robert L. Nelson and Ellen C. Berrey), Law and Social Science, 2008
Consent to Sex: The Liberal Paradigm Reformulated
(with Arthur Stinchcombe), Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008
William Henry Exum Award
The intent of this prize is to honor the memory of William Henry Exum, a member of the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Department, who died in 1986 at the age of 37. Exum was concerned with the quality of writing and research analysis in student papers. He was also interested in racial problems facing minority youths in higher education. This award was established as a means of continuing his goals of breaking barriers for all minorities.
The award submission deadline is April 27, 2012. All interested students should submit a 15-20 page paper, typed and double-spaced, on a topic dealing with race and ethnicity. Students are not limited to a sociological approach in preparing their submissions, nor is the award limited to sociology or social science majors.
The paper should include a cover sheet with the student's name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, year in school, and major.
Three copies of the essay must be submitted by the announced deadline to the Exum Award - Department of Sociology, 1810 Chicago Ave., Evanston Campus or one copy by email to sociol@northwestern.edu.
This award is open to all undergraduate students from all disciplines.
Upcoming Events
COLLOQUIUM: Myra Marx Ferree, Sociology, University of WI-Madison
May 17, 2012 • 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Culture and Society Workshop
May 17, 2012 • 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
