diff --git a/scrapy/utils/log.py b/scrapy/utils/log.py
index 7645b235e..b442ff7d9 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/log.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/log.py
@@ -130,7 +130,14 @@ def configure_logging(
     if settings.getbool("LOG_STDOUT"):
         sys.stdout = StreamLogger(logging.getLogger("stdout"))
 
-    if install_root_handler:
+    logging_from_settings = settings.getdict('LOGGING')
+
+    if logging_from_settings:
+        LOGGING = DEFAULT_LOGGING.copy()
+        LOGGING.update(logging_from_settings)
+        dictConfig(LOGGING)
+
+    elif install_root_handler:
         install_scrapy_root_handler(settings)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_utils_log_handler.py b/tests/test_utils_log_handler.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ccf15f44a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils_log_handler.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from scrapy.utils import log
+import logging
+import unittest
+
+
+class TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_settings_None(self):
+        log.configure_logging()
+        self.assertEqual(logging.getLogger().getEffectiveLevel(), 0)
+
+    def test_settings_LOGGING(self):
+        settings = {'LOGGING': {'loggers': {'logger3': {'level': 'CRITICAL'}}}}
+        log.configure_logging(settings=settings)
+        self.assertEqual(logging.getLogger().getEffectiveLevel(), 30)
+        self.assertEqual(logging.getLogger('logger3').getEffectiveLevel(), 50)