Law in the Sociological Enterprise

by McIntyre, Lisa J.

• ISBN13: 9780813319490
• ISBN10: 0813319498
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-04-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Few would dispute the notion that law has a tremendous impact on modern life. But social scientists who study the dynamics of family, work, medicine, and other institutions often ignore the pervasive influence of law. This introduction to the legal world and the sociology of law shows how social scientists can better account for the influences of legal issues in a wide range of social settings. Incorporating historical and cross-cultural research in her book, Lisa McIntyre explains the general effects of law on interpersonal relations, the concept of a civil contract, and the relationship of law to social norms. Discussing the reasons some societies and some domains within societies have more law than others, she shows that, contrary to popular wisdom, law is not only a reflection of social values but also fundamental to the formation of those values.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Foreword
Acknowledgments
The Civil Contract Perspective	p. 1
A Sociological Conception of Law	p. 9
The Idea of Contract	p. 13
Law as Civil Contract	p. 18
Elements of the Civil Contract	p. 20
Civil Contract and Society	p. 23
Law and Social Relationships	p. 31
Persons and Nonpersons	p. 31
Corporations as Persons	p. 33
Human Persons	p. 38
InterPersonal Relationships	p. 43
The Civil Domain and Nonpersons	p. 47
Nonpersons in Modern Society	p. 62
A Caveat	p. 65
Law: Conflict or Consensus	p. 66
The Civil Domain in Society	p. 67
Durkheim's View of Legal Evolution Rehabilitated	p. 77
The Civil Domain: The Modern Contrast	p. 80
Changes in the Size of the Civil Domain	p. 85
Social and Legal Expectations	p. 95
Durkheim's Legacy: Law and Solidarity	p. 95
The Civil Contract and Legal Expectations	p. 98
Laws, Social Norms, and Morals	p. 100
The "Operationalization" Process	p. 104
Looking Ahead: The Role of Ideas in Law and Society	p. 107
The Constitutive Effects of Law	p. 109
How Law Creates a World	p. 113
The Dialectic of Norms	p. 120
The Importance of Legitimating Formulas	p. 131
Law in the Sociology of Knowledge	p. 134
Law in Society	p. 137
The Civil Contract and Family Life in the United States	p. 139
English Roots	p. 140
The Diversity of Common Law	p. 145
The Colonial Experience	p. 146
The Republican Family	p. 147
Economic Change	p. 150
The Emergence of American Family Law	p. 152
Modern Family Law	p. 161
Family and Law in the Twenty-First Century	p. 165
The Civil Contract and Working Life in the United States	p. 167
The Impact of Industrialization on Work	p. 171
Economic Upheaval and Legal Shenanigans	p. 174
What Did Labor Want?	p. 180
The Impact of Early Regulation	p. 183
A New Century, A New Era in the Workplace	p. 186
More Attempts to Regulate	p. 187
Labor Relations: From the Communal to the Civil Domain	p. 188
Labor in the Post-Wagner Act Era	p. 190
The Rise of Employment Law	p. 193
Employment at Will	p. 194
Protection in the Workplace: Physical Harm and Beyond	p. 196
The Impact of Law on the Workplace in the Late Twentieth Century	p. 202
Final Words	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 211
Cases Cited	p. 225
A Brief Guide to Case Citations	p. 229
About the Book and Author	p. 231
Index	p. 233
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.