A collection of 19 articles drawn from the Law and Society Review. Written by sociologists, legal scholars, and political scientists, the chapters are divided into sections on disputing, social control, norm creation, regulation, equality, ideology and consciousness, and the legal profession. Each chapter is followed by discussion questions, while methodological discussion and references have been pruned from the original articles for the purpose of this reader. Lacks an index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This text introduces students to the study of law from a sociological perspective by focusing on four themes: the relationship between law and society; law in everyday life; the role of race, class and gender in the legal system; and current political debates that are connected to law. While explaining the essentials elements of law, and drawing on scholarly literature and relevant cases, the author does not advocate for normative views on law and the legal system. The text compares laws across various societies, discusses international law, and demonstrates how the laws of certain countries affect those of others--providing readers with insights into the nature of law within any society.

Bringing a timely synthesis to the field, The Handbook of Law and Society presents a comprehensive overview of key research findings, theoretical developments, and methodological controversies in the field of law and society. Provides illuminating insights into societal issues that pose ongoing real-world legal problems Offers accessible, succinct overviews with in-depth coverage of each topic, including its evolution, current state, and directions for future research Addresses a wide range of emergent topics in law and society and revisits perennial questions about law in a global world including the widening gap between codified laws and “law in action”, problems in the implementation of legal decisions, law’s constitutive role in shaping society, the importance of law in everyday life, ways legal institutions both embrace and resist change, the impact of new media and technologies on law, intersections of law and identity, law’s relationship to social consensus and conflict, and many more Features contributions from 38 international expert scholars working in diverse fields at the intersections of legal studies and social sciences Unique in its contributions to this rapidly expanding and important new multi-disciplinary field of study

Introduction to and survey of the field of law and society. Includes interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics.

Law and Society offers a contemporary yet concise description of the structure and function of legal institutions, along with a lively discussion of both criminal and civil law, as well as basic legal doctrine. Unlike comparable books on law and society available today, Matthew Lippman takes an interdisciplinary approach to integrate distinctive coverage of diversity, inequality, and globalism through an organized theme in a strong narrative. This practical and invigorating text provides readers with a better understanding of the connection between law and society and the impact recent literature on crime, justice, international human rights, and law has had to promote that connection.

Law and Society is a rapidly-growing interdisciplinary field that turns on its head the conventional, idealized view of the “Law” as a magisterial abstraction. Kitty Calavita’s Invitation to Law and Society brilliantly brings to life the ways in which law shapes and manifests itself in the institutions and interactions of human society, while inviting the reader into conversations that introduce the field’s dominant themes and most lively disagreements. Deftly interweaving scholarship with familiar personal examples, Calavita shows how scholars in the discipline are collectively engaged in a subversive exposé of law’s public mythology. While surveying prominent issues and distinctive approaches to the use of the law in everyday life, as well as its potential as a tool for social change, this volume provides a view of law that is more real but just as compelling as its mythic counterpart. In a field of inquiry that has long lacked a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to its ways of thinking, Invitation to Law and Society will serve as an engaging and indispensible guide.

"Law and Society, [tenth edition] provides an informative, balanced and comprehensive analysis of the interplay between law and society. This text presents an overview of the most advanced interdisciplinary and international research, theoretical advances, ongoing debates and controversies. It raises new levels of awareness on the structure and functions of law and legal systems and the principal players in the legal arena and their impact on our lives. In addition, it looks at the legal system in the context of race, class, and gender and considers multicultural and cross-cultural issues in a contemporary and interdisciplinary context"--Provided by publisher.