This collection of articles presents a critical, issue-oriented approach to law and society, emphasizing its important relationship to contemporary social problems. By exploring the interstitial area between the sociology of law, social problems and social movements, the initial chapters trace out a theoretical trajectory which points to the need to move beyond traditional and social constructionist approaches. A variety of empirical studies together explore the contradictory dynamics of class as they relate to race and gender in both a national and global context, illustrating the dialectical interplay between the state and social movements. Employing a wide range of perspectives so as to convey the great diversity found in the contemporary sociology of law and justice studies, these authors collectively share a broad consensus concerning the need to explore how social movements and the larger political economy play a pivotal role in shaping state reactions to the challenges presented by contemporary social problems.
With its integrated presentation of theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, this unique anthology will be useful in a variety of sociology, criminology, and justice studies course offerings such Law and Society, Social Problems, Crime and Social Justice, Social Movements, Law and Social Control, Social Change, Law and Public Policy, Introduction to Legal Studies, and others. Undergraduate and graduate students alike will appreciate that these articles, selected for their academic rigor, are highly readable and strongly oriented towards high profile social issues, including those of class, race, and gender inequalities as well as social movement and legal struggles in community, national and global settings.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Critical Perspectives on Law and Society: A Social Problems Approach
Chapter 2 Law and Social Change: Bringing Social Movements into the Dialectic
Chapter 3 Ontological Gerrymandering: The Anatomy of Social Problems Explanations
Chapter 4 Deviant Behavior and the Remaking of the World
Chapter 5 A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy
Chapter 6 Law as a Weapon in Social Conflict
Chapter 7 Empiricism and the Critique of Marxism on Law and Crime
Chapter 8 Legal Limits on Labor Militancy: U.S. Labor Law and the Right to Strike since the New Deal
Chapter 9 The Racial Bias of Capitalism and the State, and the Impact of the New Deal on African Americans
Chapter 10 Promoting Civil Rights through the Welfare State: How Medicare Integrated Southern Hospitals
Chapter 11 Managing Differences and Making Legislation: Social Movements and the Racialization, Sexualization, and the Gendering of Federal Hate Crime Law in the U.S., 1985-1998
Chapter 12 Negotiated Meanings and State Transformation: the Trust Issue in the Progressive Era
Chapter 13 The New Politics of Immigration: Balanced-Budget Conservatism and the Symbolism of Proposition 187
Chapter 14 Acting Locally: Environmental Injustice and the Emergence of Grass-Roots Environmental Organizations
Chapter 15 Citizenship and Inequality: Historical and Global Perspectives
Chapter 16 Transnational Mobilization and Civil Rights in Northern Ireland
Chapter 17 Exploring the Organizational Dilemmas of Coercive State Conduct: Israel's Repression of the Palestinian Uprising
Chapter 18 The Space Between Laws Revisited: Corporate Crime in a Transnational Context
Chapter 19 The State, the Legal Order, and Social Problems
About the Author :
William J. Chambliss is professor of sociology and codirector of the Institute on Crime, Justice, and Corrections at George Washington University. He is a pioneer in the field of critical criminology and former president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) and the American Society of Criminology (ASC). Chambliss has published many well-known articles and books, including Power, Politics and Crime and On the Take.
Richard A. Dello Buono is associate professor of sociology at Dominican University and former SSSP vice-president. He was visiting professor of political studies and international relations at the National University of Colombia in Bogota, Fullbright Professor at the University of Panama, and invited Graduate Studies Professor at both the University of Havana, Cuba, and at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico. Dello Buono was formerly the editor of Social Problems Forum and is currently an associate editor of Critical Sociology.
A. Kathryn Stout is associate professor of sociology and director of criminology at Dominican University. She is active in the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the American Society of Criminology, and various scholar-activist and social justice organizations. Specializing on the intersection of law and social movements, she is author of "Political Prisoners as an Emergent Contradiction of State Repression" (with R. A. Dello Buono) and Sanctuary in the 1980s: the Dialectics of Law and Social Movement Development.
