Blackwell Companion to Law and Society (Blackwell Companions to Sociology) by Austin Sarat (Editor) (May 17, 2004)

Habermas on Law and Democracy: Critical Exchanges (Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Rule of Law)
by Michel Rosenfeld (Editor), Andrew Arato (Editor)
In the first essay, Habermas himself succinctly presents the centerpiece of his theory: his proceduralist paradigm of law. The following essays comprise elaborations, criticisms, and further explorations by others of the most salient issues addressed in his theory. The distinguished group of contributorsinternationally prominent scholars in the fields of law, philosophy, and social theoryincludes many who have been closely identified with Habermas as well as some of his best-known critics. The final essay is a thorough and lengthy reply by Habermas, which not only engages the most important arguments raised in the preceding essays but also further elaborates and refines some of his own key contributions in Between Facts and Norms. This volume will be essential reading for philosophers, legal scholars, and political and social theorists concerned with understanding the work of one of the leading philosophers of our age. These provocative, in-depth debates between Jrgen Habermas and a wide range of his critics relate to the philosopher's contribution to legal and democratic theory in his recently published Between Facts and Norms. Drawing upon his discourse theory, Habermas has elaborated a novel and powerful account of law that purports to bridge the gap between democracy and rights, by conceiving law to be at once self-imposed and binding.

Michel Rosenfeld is Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author of Affirmative Action and Justice (1991) and Just Interpretations: Law between Ethics and Politics (California, 1998). Andrew Arato is Professor of Sociology in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and most recently co-author of Civil Society (1994).

Marxism and Law (Marxist Introductions) by Hugh Collins
This book applies the insights of Marxist social theory and politics to law. After presenting a clear and unified discussion of Marxism, Collins examines the special characteristics of legal institutions, rules, and ideals. He focuses particularly on the Marxist critique of the ideal of the Rule of Law, discussing law and class oppression, ideology and law, base and superstructure, the future of law, and class struggle and the rule of law.

The Sociology of Law: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives
by A. Javier Trevino, Javier A. Trevino
Surveys the major traditions of the sociology of law to show how 19th- century thought has directly influenced the emergence of 20th-century theory. Contains sections on foundational works on law and society, the sociological movement in law, structural-functionalism, conflict theory, and critical legal studies, emphasizing the work of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. Includes chapter summaries, and excerpts from key works. For use in upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses in sociology of law, law and society, and sociolegal studies. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Interrogating Incest: Feminism, Foucault and the Law (Sociology of Law and Crime) by Vikki Bell
Interrogating Incest shows how feminist theory, when combined with insights from the work of Michel Foucault, can create ways of understanding incest, a topic usually limited to the category of sexual violence and abuse, but otherwise neglected. Vikki Bell discusses this issue in the context of sociological theory, feminist theory and criminal law. By examining incest in the context of Foucauldian theories, she considers how feminist discourse on incest fits into existing ways of talking about sex. Closely surveying the historical background of incest legislation and the theoretical issues involved, Bell shows how the criminalization of incest poses difficult questions and dilemmas.

Social Context and Social Location in the Sociology of Law
by Gayle M. Macdonald (Editor)
The sociology of law in the 1990s encountered uncertain terrain. The reconsideration of race, class, and gender destabilized the discourses of the previous 30 years. Global economic politics, restless divisions within both nation and state, and increasing demand from the marginalized have nearly paralysed these discourses in their attempt to address the very real and serious problems faced by increasing numbers of the population.
As we move into the next century, it has become apparent that the needs of various disenfranchised groups are being pitted against one another, for example, legal costs against social assistance costs, sustenance needs of 'racialized' communities against land claims. The needs of the disenfranchised are also pitted against those of the powerful, the needs of the victim against the needs of a professional association to protect itself, the downsizing of a corporate market against the needs of the worker, the needs of children against the needs of the state to protect its policies. What is clear from these struggles is the paucity of theory to explain these frictions. What are the options for critical work? Other than pitting an analysis of politics and economy (as Marx does) against analyses of power and discourse (as Foucault does), perhaps it is more important to examine how critical theory needs to move with this de-centering. Critical theory in the sociology of law needs to! address the fracturing and disruption of the very social services that claim to support the needs of the victim, the poor, and the child. The fact, for example, that apathy and despair have replaced activism in the "community" and that survival has replaced service as the economic motif from which we are expected to construct our lives are problems that the sociology of law is just beginning to understand.

The work in this text represents an evolving body of critical analysis of the law and its social context. Moving from Gayle MacDonald's overview of the traditional discourses of the sociology of law and the promise of critical theory, contributing authors offer insights into the effect of social context on the formation of law and the ways in which the particularities of social location bear on the application of law and resistance to it.

This text weaves social location and the social context, stories about law in ways that reveal the exciting new developments in critical theory in this field. Critical theorists tend to be characterized by an ability to move easily between micro/macro traditions, and to strengthen theories of conflict by adding new, micro explanations that come from the interpretative tradition, such as feminist theory and social constructionism. This, in fact, is one of the key strengths of critical theory; to move between and among prior classifications of theory and method with relative ease, blurring the distinctions between these dialectics and opening the possibility for new fields of research. The premise, then, of the critical paradigm is to critique law, legal process and outcome in terms of the social problems that are created or even exacerbated by the very system designed to root out discord among social groups.

The Oldest Social Science?: Configurations of Law and Modernity (Oxford Socio-Legal Studies)
by Timothy Murphy, W. T. Murphy
This book takes a critical look at some of the underlying assumptions which shape our current understanding of the role and purpose of law and society. Arguing that the relationship between law and society must be reconceived in a different way in the era of economics, sociology and statistics, Murphy contends that the traditional vision of the role of law, rooted in a complex set of hierarchical assumptions, is no longer adequate.

The Common Place of Law : Stories from Everyday Life (Chicago Series in Law and Society)
by Patricia Ewick, Susan S. Silbey
Why do some people not hesitate to call the police to quiet a barking dog in the middle of the night, while others accept the pain and losses associated with defective products, unsuccesful surgery, and discrimination? Patricia Ewick and Susan Silbey collected accounts of the law from more than four hundred people of diverse backgrounds in order to explore the different ways that people use and experience it. Their fascinating and original study identifies three common narratives of law that are captured in the stories people tell.

One narrative is based on an idea of the law as magisterial and remote. Another views the law as a game with rules that can be manipulated to one's advantage. A third narrative describes the law as an arbitrary power that is actively resisted. Drawing on these extensive case studies, Ewick and Silbey present individual experiences interwoven with an analysis that charts a coherent and compelling theory of legality. A groundbreaking study of law and narrative, The Common Place of Law depicts the institution as it is lived: strange and familiar, imperfect and ordinary, and at the center of daily life.

The Law and Society Reader: Readings on the Social Study of Law
by Lawrence Meir Friedman (Editor), Stewart MacAulay (Editor), John A. Stookey (Editor)

A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (Oxford Socio-Legal Studies)
by Brian Z. Tamanaha

Foucault and Law : Towards a Sociology of Law as Governance (Law and Social Theory)
by Alan Hunt, Gary Wickham

A Primer in the Sociology of Law (A Harrow and Heston Special Edge Supplementary Text)
by Dragan Milovanovic
Prof. Bruce Arrigo, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
"Sophisticated yet subtle, insightful yet accessible, this is THE reference book for understanding theoretical developments in the sociology of law."--This text refers to the Textbook Binding edition.
Excerpt from Foreword by Prof. Stuart Henry, Wayne State University
"Milovanovic presents the right balance of materials to serve as a guide to reading the original theory and research literature."--This text refers to the Textbook Binding edition.

An Introduction to the Sociology of Law (Law and Society Series.)
by Nicholas S. Timasheff, A. Javier Trevino

Sociology of Law (Law and Society Series) by Georges Gurvitch, Alan Hunt

Sociology of Law: A Social-Structural Perspective
by William M. Evan

Fundamental Principles of the Sociology of Law (Law and Society Series) by Eugen Ehrlich, Klaus A. Ziegert, Roscoe Pound (Introduction)

Jurisprudence As Ideology (Sociology of Law and Crime) by Valerie Kerruish

Child Custody and the Politics of Gender (Sociology of Law and Crime Series) by Carol Smart, Selma Sevenhuijsen (Editor)

The Sociology of Law and Criminology (International Library of Sociology)

Crime: An Analytical Appraisal: The Sociology Of Law And Criminology (International Library of Sociology)
by Manuel Lopez-Rey

Human Measure: Social Thought in the Western Legal Tradition
by Donald R. Kelley

Law and Society: Critical Approaches by Gerald Turkel
This book presents a critical approach to issues in law and society. It is concerned with defining how the rule of law has changed as a result of changes in the economy; the development of social movements in the U.

Law and Society (7th Edition)
by Steven Vago
A textbook for a one-term undergraduate text, though earlier editions have also been popular among nonspecialists interested in how legal and social systems impact each other. First published in 1981 and here updated from the 1994 edition to include legal transformations and organized crime in Eastern Europe, community policing in Japan, sentencing trends, and new developments in alternative dispute resolution and the death penalty controversy. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description
This informative, highly readable and comprehensive book offers a balanced, current and comprehensive overview of the legal system and administrative, criminal and civil law in cross-cultural context. The book considers the most recent theories and research findings, and emphasizes developing trends. It focuses on the evolution of modern legal systems, current intellectual movements in law, interplay between law and social change and the main concerns and issues in the profession and practice of law. This is the only book that considers multicultural and cross-cultural issues in a contemporary context with an interdisciplinary emphasis. Extensive new material includes detailed and up-to-date discussions on the transformation of legal systems in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and some of the unintended consequences which promoted organized crime; critical race theory; community policing in Japan; trends in sentencing guidelines; and a variety of new developments in alternative dispute resolution and in the death penalty controversy. For anyone with an interest in law and society.

Punish and Critique: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Penality (Sociology of Law and Crime) by Adrian Howe

Thinking About Law: Perspectives on the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Law by Rosemary Hunter (Editor), Richard Ingleby (Editor), Richard Johnstone (Editor)

Limited Responsibilities: Social Movements and Criminal Justice (Sociology of Law and Crime) by Tamar Pitch, John Lea (Translator)
"Responsibility" and the way in which it is defined, assumed and attributed in society is currently at the center of public debate both nationally and internationally. As the focus of political discussion, it also poses philosophical and juridicial questions and is the underlying motive of many contemporary conflicts.
Limited Responsibilities analyzes the notions of responsibility in relation to social and political institutions and also individuals. Focusing particularly on the criminal justice system, it demostrates how the breaking down of boundaries between institutions results in increased empowerment of the individual.

Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (January 1, 2005)
by Lisa Hajjar
Israel's military court system, a centerpiece of Israel's apparatus of control in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967, has prosecuted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. This authoritative book provides a rare look at an institution that lies both figuratively and literally at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lisa Hajjar has conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of Israelis and Palestinians-including judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, defendants, and translators-about their experiences and practices to explain how this system functions, and how its functioning has affected the conflict. Her lucid, richly detailed, and theoretically sophisticated study highlights the array of problems and debates that characterize Israel's military courts as it asks how the law is deployed to protect and further the interests of the Israeli state and how it has been used to articulate and defend the rights of Palestinians living under occupation. Illustrations: 2 maps--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

"Hajjar's book on the Israeli military court system brings together rich ethnographic and historical knowledge with cutting-edge theoretical sophistication."-Austin Sarat, coeditor of Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies, and the Law "This book will be the most authoritative source on the subject for years to come."-James Ron

Law/Society: Origins, Interactions, and Change (Sociology for a New Century Series) by John R. Sutton
PART ONE: LEGAL CHANGE
Evolutionary Theories of Legal Change
Maine and Durkheim
Law, Class Conflict and the Economy
Marxian Theory
Law and the State
Max Weber's Sociology of Law
The Problem of Law in the Activist State
PART TWO: LEGAL ACTION
Voting Rights and School Desegregation
Equal Employment Opportunity
PART THREE: THE LEGAL PROFESSION
Law as a Profession
The Transformation of Legal Practice in the Late 20th Century

Jurismania by Paul Campos, Paul F. Campos
In Jurismania, Campos does his best to demonstrate that the behavior of the legal mind, with its insistence on the "rule of law," is a "culturally sanctioned form of obsessive-compulsive behavior." In his more charitable moments, he is willing to concede that it may be suffering not from delusion, but from religious fervor. About the nicest thing he has to say about the American legal system is that it is a tremendous waste of financial resources.
The problem, as Campos sees it, is an irrational belief in the power of rationality to solve all our problems, which leads to the elevation of "social coordination and dispute processing," which is what Campos identifies as the purpose of "law," to sacrosanct procedures that are inadequate to the tasks they are being asked to perform. Nor is this state of mind limited to lawyers and legal academics; consider, suggests Campos, that many voters believe in the balanced budget amendment, "which boils down to the belief that the best way to ensure legislators pass legislation that balances the federal budget is to pass legislation requiring legislators to pass legislation that balances the federal budget." There are some situations, the author argues, for which "more law" is not the answer. Readers may find Campos's style--which references Nietzschean ethics, college football, materialist rationalism, and Ann Landers as part of the same overall argument--off-putting, but Jurismania is like a voice crying in the wilderness, describing a crisis our increasingly litigious society continues to ignore at its peril.
Don't worry, Campos is compos mentis when he claims judges and legal academics have lost their minds. A law professor, he goes one further than the anecdotal criticisms of Philip Howard (The Death of Common Sense, a 1995 best-seller) and castigates the underlying reasoning that courts cite in their decisions. To him, appellate-level reasoning is either not reasoned or insists on rationing the nonrational in a sort of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The latter occurs, in Campos' acerbic analysis, when courts enter "equilibrium zones," spheres of human experience that prove elusive to jurisprudence, such as birth and abortion, death and euthanasia, the "wall" between Church and State. But judges won't relent, inventing or refining multipronged tests to regulate such zones--behavior Campos describes as delusional. It adds up to the "juridical saturation of reality," examples of which Campos offers wry deconstructions--as of the law's reach into his local library, reflected by its detailed code of conduct for patrons. A pointed, well-argued polemic. Gilbert Taylor