What is Legal Estrangement?

A Conversation with Professor Monica Bell

In this episode, I spoke with Monica Bell, Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Associate Professor of Sociology at Yale University. Professor Bell holds a B.A. from Furman University, a M.Sc. from University College Dublin, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard University. Professor Bell is a leading expert on “legal estrangement,” a theory of how people are excluded from forming solidarity with social institutions. We discussed this theory and its application to lack of trust in police, how this theory differs from other explanations for lack of trust in police, and how to combat legal estrangement.