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Overview
This twelfth edition continues to preserve Professor Vago’s voice, while Steven E. Barkan’s use of chapter outlines and summaries, learning objectives, key terms, and additional readings maintains the text’s accessibility for today’s readers. The book’s foundational approach is brought fully up-to-date with current events and new studies throughout that illustrate how legal forces shape and influence society, and vice versa. These additions include:
- Updated data on trial and conviction data in federal district courts
- Updated data on sexual harassment of attorneys and new data on representation of women and people of color among law school faculty
- New discussions of legal issues arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The twelfth edition of Law and Society is a cornerstone companion for one-semester undergraduate courses in Law and Society, Sociology of Law, and Introduction to Law offered within departments of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Political Science.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780367904012 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
| Publication date: | 04/26/2021 |
| Edition description: | 12th ed. |
| Pages: | 312 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Steven E. Barkan is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Maine. His teaching and research interests include criminology, sociology of law, and social movements. In addition to his many publications in these areas, Professor Barkan is a past president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), served as chair of SSSP’s Law and Society Division, served on the council of the American Sociological Association’s Sociology of Law Section, and is a past president of the Textbook and Academic Authors Association.
Table of Contents
Preface- Introduction: Making Sense Of Law And Society
- Theoretical Perspectives
- The Organization Of Law
- Lawmaking
- Law And Social Control
- Law And Dispute Resolution
- Law And Social Change
- The Legal Profession
- Researching Law In Society
- Epilogue: Law And Inequality In A Changing America
Index
Introduction
Over the past twenty years, the previous and progressively more comprehensive editions of this book not only became popular with law and society scholars, but were adopted as textbooks in more than 350 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Extra printings for each edition along the way confirmed the usefulness of the text and the growing interest in the subject matter. This seventh edition is a result of the wide acceptance and demonstrated utility of the earlier versions. While reflecting the intent, perspectives, and basic plan of preceding versions, this edition continues to enhance the message with extensive new input. The material is more focused, reorganized and presented in a more integrated and relevant way for the benefit of students. The book remains in tune with ongoing global changes in legal systems and extensively incorporates the most recent theoretical developments and the latest research results. Much of the book has been rewritten to further increase clarity and readability and to include new trends, concerns, and controversies. The temptation to engage in merely cosmetic changes and verbiage alterations that are common in revisions has been successfully resisted. If a particular section was up-to-date, clear and useful, I did not change it just for the sake of change. Throughout the various revisions, my purpose remained the same: to prepare a book that is pedagogically sound, full with ideas and insights, informative and provocative to read, and distinctive in its coverage of the subject.
A substantial amount of new material has been included in this edition. The coverage now includes detailed and up-to-date discussions on thetransformation of legal systems in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and some of the unintended consequences that 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 The many changes that have been suggested by students and reviewers have been considered and incorporated. All the chapters have been fully updated and expanded to reflect ongoing trends and current developments. There are close to 375 new resources and references, a significantly expanded list of further readings at the end of each chapter, and I have greatly increased the number of cross-cultural illustrations. I made a point once again of further emphasizing clarity of language at the expense of professional jargon.
The objective of this book is to serve as an undergraduate text in one-term courses. Although the book was written primarily for college students, anyone with an interest in law and society will find it useful, informative and provocative. The classroom tested and refined material has been organized and presented in a logical fashion, and each chapter builds on the previous one. Should one prefer a different organization of the contents, it would not detract from the value of the book. For example, if one desires, Chapter 9, Researching Law in Society, can be read after Chapter 2, Theoretical Perspectives, rather than at the end of the book. For a quick chapter overview, some readers may want to look at the detailed summaries. The suggested further readings are designed to provide a starting point for interested readers to pursue further a particular topic and to reflect alternative perspectives.
As I noted in previous editions, the study of the interplay between law and society is fundamentally eclectic. Knowledge about it has accumulated haphazardly. Intellectual developments in the field are influenced by a number of theoretical perspectives, resulting in a variety of strains of thought and research. In a sense, once again, more questions will be raised than answered. The abundance of unanswered questions and unexpected developments keeps the study of law and society challenging and appealing.
Writing a book always requires the cooperation, support and encouragement of many people. Prentice Hall reviewers Carol Bohmer, Ohio State University, Margaret Platt Jendrek, Miami University-Ohio; Suzanne Samuels, Seton Hall University; and Jeffery T. Ulmer, Pennsylvania State University made insightful and valuable suggestions. I also thank the many students (who over the years read and commented on and constructively criticized the multiple versions of the manuscript) for their no-nonsense feedback, demand for clarity, aversion to redundancy, reluctance to take things for granted, and willingness to talk back to their professor. Once again, without sounding redundant, it was most gratifying to work with production editor Kim Gueterman who superbly orchestrated the completion of this book. I am especially appreciative of the work of Ann Sieger who did an excellent job of editing this manuscript. The index was expertly prepared by Aristide Sechandice. As with the preceding editions and other scholarly endeavors, this work could not have been realized without the continuous generous pecuniary, moral, and spiritual support of the Vago Foundation, which alone provided the necessary infrastructure, secretarial services, library assistance, and magnanimously covered all expenses incurred in the preparation of this book.
Steven Vago
Bellingham, Washington
and Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia