The Social Organization of Law

This new edition of "The Social Organization of Law" uses the five-part organization of the first edition - social stratification, social morphology, culture, organization, and other social control - in presenting a brand new set of readings. These readings represent the great variety of work done in the sociology of law, a field dedicated to the study of the influence of social factors on legal behavior pioneered by Donald Black. Some of the readings look at the operation of the justice systems, others at various stages of the legal process. Only two had appeared in print when the first edition of "The Sociology of Law" was published, and neither was included in it. This second edition, published 25 years after the first, thus testifies to the recently created wealth of ideas while introducing a new generation to the concepts that have already proved so fruitful. It presents all new essays while retaining the organizational structure of the first edition. It illustrates new advances in jurisprudential, moral, and practical applications of legal sociology; covers the contemporary U.S. as well as other countries and historical periods; and, embraces a wide variety of research methods and strategies.