Social Problems, Law, and Society

This volume represents a critical, issue-oriented approach to law and society, emphasizing its important relationship to contemporary social problems. Various empirical studies within the text 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 in the context of the larger political economy.

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.

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