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.

Key Features

* Presents all new essays while retaining the organizational structure of the First Edition

* 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

* Embraces a wide variety of research methods and strategies

contemporary or classical, have developed as methodically as has Donald Black a single line of inquiry. Fewer still, Durkheim included, have applied a structural theory as broadly, from law to moral and aesthetic judgment. Baumgartner's eminently readable collection demonstrates what Black's approach can accomplish, offering us predictions or explanations covering appeals court rulings, controls on rap music, regulatory discretion, personal injury outcomes, law in Colonial America and contemporary China, and the persecution of early Christians."

-DAVID SCIULLI, Department of Sociology, Texas A & M University

"A thoughtfully revised collection, elaborating, specifying and clarifying the behavioral theory of law, Baumgartner's Social Organization of Law should be fundamental reading in socio-legal studies."

-PETER K. MANNING, Michigan State University

ment. Baumgartner's eminently readable collection demonstrates what Black's approach can accomplish, offering us predictions or explanations covering appeals court rulings, controls on rap music, regulatory discretion, personal injury outcomes, law in Colonial America and contemporary China, and the persecution of early Christians."

-DAVID SCIULLI, Department of Sociology, Texas A & M University

"A thoughtfully revised collection, elaborating, specifying and clarifying the behavioral theory of law, Baumgartner's Social Organization of Law should be fundamental reading in socio-legal studies."

-PETER K. MANNING, Michigan State University

ica and contemporary China, and the persecution of early Christians."

-DAVID SCIULLI, Department of Sociology, Texas A & M University

"A thoughtfully revised collection, elaborating, specifying and clarifying the behavioral theory of law, Baumgartner's Social Organization of Law should be fundamental reading in socio-legal studies."

-PETER K. MANNING, Michigan State University

law, Baumgartner's Social Organization of Law should be fundamental reading in socio-legal studies."

-PETER K. MANNING, Michigan State University

"Baumgartner provides a uniquely valuable collection of the best research in legal sociology. No previous volume so beautifully introduces and illustrates the power of general theory to predict and explain the actual behavior of law."

-DONALD BLACK, University of Virginia

"Mary Baumgartner's volume is a wonderfully catalytic collection of contributions that illustrates the dynamic growth and organizational stimulus that Donald Black's theory of law has brought to the field of legal sociology."

-JOHN HAGAN, University of Toronto

"In the second edition of The Social Organization of Law, M.P. Baumgartner assembles a set of first-rate empirical studies to illuminate how social factors affect legal behavior. The introduction alone is worth the price of the volume. The Social Organization of Law will undoubtedly join its predecessor as a benchmark of knowledge in the sociology of law."

-CALVIN MORRILL, Department of Sociology, University of Arizona

"Few social theorists, American or European, contemporary or classical, have developed as methodically as has Donald Black a single line of inquiry. Fewer still, Durkheim included, have applied a structural theory as broadly, from law to moral and aesthetic judgment. Baumgartner's eminently readable collection demonstrates what Black's approach can accomplish, offering us predictions or explanations covering appeals court rulings, controls on rap music, regulatory discretion, personal injury outcomes, law in Colonial America and contemporary China, and the persecution of early Christians."

-DAVID SCIULLI, Department of Sociology, Texas AandM University

"A thoughtfully revised collection, elaborating, specifying and clarifying the behavioral theory of law, Baumgartner's Social Organization of Law should be fundamental reading in socio-legal studies."

-PETER K. MANNING, Michigan State University

This new edition of The Sociology 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.

M.P. Baumgartner, Introduction.

Law and Social Stratification:

W.J. Bowers and G.L. Pierce, Arbitrariness and Discrimination under Post-Furman Capital Statutes.

D. Black, Dispute Settlement by the Police.

W.M. O'Barr, Speech Styles in the Courtroom: Powerful versus Powerless Speech.

M.P. Baumgartner, Law and Social Status in Colonial New Haven, 1639-1665.

Law and Social Morphology:

H.P. Lundsgaarde, Murder in Space City.

D.M. Engel, The Oven Bird's Song: Insiders, Outsiders and Personal Injuries in an American Community.

M. Cooney, Evidence as Partisanship.

K. Daly, Structure and Practice of Familial-Based Justice in a Criminal Court.

Law and Culture:

D.J. Steffensmeier and R.M. Terry, Deviance and Respectability: An Observational Study of Reactions to Shoplifting.

N.A. Heitzeg, Legal Control of Music: The Case of Rock and Rap.

R. Grace, Justice, Chinese Style.

D.C.E. Ugwuegbu, Racial and Evidential Factors in Juror Attribution of Legal Responsiblity.

G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?

Law and Organization:

C. Wanner, The Public Ordering of Private Relations: Winning Civil Court Cases.

D.R. Songer and R.S. Sheehan, Who Wins on Appeal? Uppderdogs and Underdogs in the United States Courts of Appeals.

J. Hagan, The Corporate Advantage: A Study of the Involvement of Corporate and Individual Victims in a Criminal Justice System.

J. Lynxwiler, N. Shover, and D.A. Clelland, The Organization and Impact of Inspector: Discretion in a Regulatory Bureaucracy.

Law and Other Social Control:

R.A. Farrell and V.L. Swigert, Prior Offense Record as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

E.A. Stanko, The Impact of Victim Assessment on Prosecutors' Screening Decisions: The Case of the New York County District Attorney's Office.

J.O. Haley, Sheathing the Sword of Justice in Japan: An Essay on Law without Sanctions.

Index.