Dissertation Prize

The Law and Society Association presents an award to the dissertation that best represents outstanding work in law and society research.

Emily Prifogle’s dissertation opens with the sentence, “Law does not land on all spaces equally,” which summarizes the central thesis of her work—the work of law in constituting the rural in America. Much of 19th-20th century US legal history on regulation have focused on the cities and suburbs, recognizing the unprecedented urbanization of that time. Prifogle’s dissertation “Cows, Cars, and Criminals: The Legal Landscape of the Rural Midwest, 1920-1975,” excavates the construction of the rural Midwest through five case studies, ranging from policing, land use and zoning, education, labor rights and community organizing, showing how “rural values” were asserted and inscribed in the law, as distinct from urban/national values. She also shows how these norms were increasingly contested by individuals and organizations. It makes visible immigrants and minorities, women and college students (the emergence of large land grant campuses) and rural lawyers who all play a role in reshaping the region. 

Tommaso Pavone conducted 350 interviews in Italy, France, and Germany in his dissertation, “The Ghostwriters: Lawyers and the Politics behind the Judicial Construction of Europe.” Using innovative methodological approaches, including patio-temporal mapping, Pavone advances an alternative narrative   of the actors behind the institutionalization of European law: entrepreneurial lawyers as opposed to ‘activist judges’ or courts were the motors of European legal integration. Their repertoire of action involved constructing cases as well as becoming “ghostwriters” of case referrals to the European Court of Justice. At the same time, their repertoire of action eventually became co-opted by expensive Euro firms that may often mobilize EU law in the interest of business, as opposed to citizens as their entrepreneurial predecessors did. Pavone’s dissertation falls clearly in the field of law & society and makes both empirical and theoretical contributions, especially when it comes to understanding transnational legal change. It is written in a compelling manner, weaving theory building with data analysis.

Pavone’s dissertation is compelling to read. He is particularly skilled at integrating and presenting his wealth of data in the dissertation without overwhelming the reader, simultaneously bringing it into conversation with law & society scholarship. On the contrary, his writing style is both accessible and allows the reader to imagine herself in the spaces where he conducted his research, in true ethnographic style.

Michael Gibson-Light’s dissertation, “The Prison as Market: How Penal Labor Systems Reproduce Inequality,” is an account of work within the prisons and hierarchies that exist within prison work. The author points to the distinctions within the prison as experienced by the prisoners in terms of pay and the conditions of work-distinction between the food assembly work, at an auto garage and the coveted call center and sign shop. While there has been extensive work on the pre and post prison inequalities in the age of mass incarceration, here the focus is on the inequalities of work (social class) within the prison itself. The author did extensive fieldwork in a prison for 18 months and interviewed 82 prisoners and staff, and volunteered at some of the sites of work. Even as extensive research is being done of pre and post prison experiences, a study of social classes within the prison makes the question unique, the methodology is impressive-extensive fieldwork, and the theoretical framing is multilayered-neoliberal penologyto class stratification. The rich and textured descriptions of the experiences of the prisoners helps us understand the self-worth of individuals, class hierarchies within, and the forms of resistances that exist.

Past Winners * All 2020 Award Winners * All 2019 Award Winners