Carol Smart began her academic career by studying sociology at Portsmouth Polytechnic, which is now Portsmouth University. After completing her BA, she moved on to complete her masters in criminology from the University of Sheffield. She also completed her PhD in Socio-Legal studies also from Sheffield in 1983.

Carol Smart began her teaching career as a lecturer of sociology at the University of Warwick, before leaving the University of Warwick, she also taught as a senior lecturer. After she finished teaching at the University of Warwick, Smart moved on to become a professor at the University of Leeds before finally ending up at Manchester in 2005.

Besides teaching sociology, Smart is also the co-director of the Morgan Center for the study of relationships and personal life at Manchester. Some of the classes that Carol Smart now teaches include The Sociology of Family Life and Intimacy, The Body and Society, and New Approaches to Sociology and Family Life.

Carol Smart has published works in the areas of criminology, family law and social policy. Her main interests over the last few years have been family life and intimacy and how people conduct their personal lives. Smart has done much research on divorce and separation and how this affects children, the couple and other kin. More recently, Smart has been doing research on gay and lesbian civil partnerships and their commitment ceremonies.

books

• Smart, Carol. Women, Crime and Criminology: a Feminist Critique. Routledge, London, 1976.
• Review, American Journal of Sociology, Sep., 1978, vol. 84, no. 2, p. 501-503
• Review Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Spring, 1979, vol. 70, no. 1, p. 143-144
• Review, Contemporary Sociology: Nov., 1977, vol. 6, no. 6, p. 672-673
• Review, Social Forces, Mar., 1979, vol. 57, no. 3, p. 1027—1028
• Smart, Carol. Women, Sexuality, and Social Control. Routledge, London, 1978.
• Review, British Journal of Sociology, Sep., 1979, vol. 30, no. 3, p. 386-387
• Smart, Carol. The Ties that Bind. Routledge, London, 1984.
• Review, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Feb., 1985, vol. 47, no. 1, p. 240-241
• Review, Contemporary Sociology , Nov., 1985, vol. 14, no. 6, p. 746-747
• Smart, Carol & Sevenhuijsen Child Custody and the Politics of Gender. Taylor and Francis, 1989
• Review, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Nov., 1990, vol. 52, no. 4, p. 1153—1154
• Smart, Carol. Regulating Womanhood: Historical Essays on Marriage, Motherhood and Sexuality. Routledge, Londo, 1992.
• Review, American Journal of Sociology, Sep., 1993, vol. 99, no. 2, p. 538-540
• Smart, Carol. Law, Crime and Sexuality.Sage Publications. 1995.
• Smart, Carol. Femninist Approaches to Criminology or Post-Modern Woman Meets Atavistic Man
• Carol Smart; Bren Neale; Amanda Wade. The Changing Experience of Childhood: Families and Divorce;
• Review, Contemporary Sociology, May, 2003, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 307-308
• Review, Acta Sociologica, 2002, vol. 45, no. 2, p. 166-168
• Smart, Carol, Feminism and the Power of Law Routledge, 1991.

Journal articles

• Smart, Carol. "'Feminism and Law: Some Problems of Analysis and Strategy" International Journal of the Sociology of Law; 14(2) pp 109—23, 1986
• Smart, Carol. "The Legal and Moral Ordering of Child Custody." Journal of Law and Society; 18 (4) p 485-500.1991.
• Smart, Carol. Regulating Families or Legitimising Patriarchy?" - Family Law in Britain. International Journal of the Sociology of Law; 10 (2) p 129-47.1982
• Smart, Carol. Criminological Theory: Its ideology and Implications involving Women" Law Crime and Sexuality Page 16-31. 1995.
• Smith, Carol, "Children's narratives of post-divorce family life: from individual experience to an ethical disposition" The Sociological Review, 54, no. 1 (2006): 155-170

book chapters

• Smart, Carol.The Women of Legal Discourse Criminology at the Crossroads, Chapter 2. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998