Sociology of Law Midterm SOC 173 UCSB Lopez-Espino

Functionalist Theory

Durkheim

Functionalist Theory by Durkheim

Law helps society stay orderly by reflecting shared values. For example, laws against theft and murder exist because most people agree these acts are harmful.

Legal Pluralism

Different types of law exist together, including state, religious, and community rules. For example, tribal law or restorative justice can operate alongside official state law.

Relational Theory of Law

Sees law as based on relationships. Law only has meaning through how people, institutions, and society interact.

Culture

Law is more than rules; it's a system full of meanings and values. it influences how law is understood and applied.

Structuralism

Focuses on how laws, policies, cases, institutions, ideas, evaluations, and discourse enable and constrain culture.

Structuralism

Yazdihda

The Theory of Modern Public Administration

Max Weber

The Theory of Modern Public Administration

studies how governments implement policies and manage institutions effectively and ethically. It developed to handle the complexities of modern societies beyond early rigid bureaucracies.

According to Go (2024), What are forms of ant-colonial resistance

Liberation movements seek freedom from oppression and social inequality. They promote equality, cross-ethnic solidarity, and new visions for political and social futures.

What is Legal Pluralism?

Laws vary across countries and within societies, reflecting social norms, distinct rules, and jurisdictions. In colonial times, laws often criminalized the everyday behaviors of subordinated groups while applying differently to colonial administrators.

What is Mechanical Solidarity?

Durkheim relies on similarity and conformity, enforced by repressive laws. Crimes that violate the collective conscience are punished and condemned.

What is Organic Solidarity?

Rules with sanction for restitution that have different roles and relationships to one another and diffused economic, administrative, and governmental functions, that promote co-operative relationships

According to Weber (2014), What is Ideal Bureaucracy?

A way to organize large groups and make decisions - management files, money, and equipment. Division of labor, clear hierarchy of authority

5 characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy

Hierarchical structure - Clear chain of command and authority.

Division of labor - Specialized roles and tasks for efficiency.

Formal rules and regulations - Standardized procedures governing operations.

Impersonality - Decisions made based on rules, not personal preferences.

Merit-based advancement - Hiring and promotion based on qualifications and performance.

What scholarly movement informed the focus on "law in action"

The legal law on the books Wisconsin-Madison

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A French philosopher saw "natural law" as inequality from differences like age or health. Moral law arises through social conventions and the social contract.

Charles Darwin

An English thinker proposed that all species share a common ancestry. Evolution occurs through natural selection, where inherited traits adapt to the environment.

Lewis Henry Morgan

Born in New York, he viewed social evolution as progressing from savagery to civilization. A social Darwinist, he linked this to shifts from collective ownership and promiscuity to private property, monogamy, and state control.

Henry Summer Maine

He was a comparative jurist who trained as a lawyer and taught Civil Law at Cambridge. He also worked on land settlement issues in colonial India.

Durkheim

Born in Lorraine, France, he founded French sociology and wrote Division of Labor (1893), studying crime, punishment, and social cohesion. He distinguished mechanical solidarity with repressive law from organic solidarity with restitutive law.

Karl Marx

German philosopher, Was in exile in London due to to his political writing and developed collaboration with Engels

Friedrich Engels

German philosopher

Alan Hunt

Born in England, he was a law and sociology professor in Canada and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He argued in Critical Legal Studies that legal systems uphold capitalism and reflect the ruling class's interests through coercion and ideology.

Max Weber

Born in Prussia, he was a sociologist and economist known for The Protestant Ethic and writings on bureaucracy. He argued that ideal-type bureaucracies efficiently manage states, reducing social and financial costs, with modern European states as primary examples.

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Coined the term intersectionality.

Highlights the violence faced by Black women and girls in law, law enforcement, school policing

Structuralism

Focuses on how laws, policies, cases, institutions, ideas, evaluations, and discourse enable and constrain culture -Yazhida

Interpretivist tradition

Emphasizes the idea that culture can be independent from and transcend social structures (Yazhida) - Max Weber

Law on the Books

Written laws, statutes, legislation, codes, constitutions, regulations, court records, contracts, summons, notices

Jurist

One having thorough knowledge of the law - Henry Summer Maine

Law in Action

How law is applied in the real world

Crime

Actions that are a threat to society's survival and maintenance

Punishment

Used as deterrence to dissuade the actions that would ultimately dismantle society as a whole

Vengeance

Informs interpersonal feelings and enacts forms of immediate justice onto offending person or entity

Imperialism

A modality of power by which one state or social actor exerts unequal influence and control over another society or peoples - Julian Go

Colonialism

A subtype of imperialism where the declaration of sovereignty and/or territorial seizure by a core state over another territory and its inhabitants who are classified as inferior subjects rather than equal citizen

Colonial Empires

Single core state exercising direct control and declaring sovereignty over multiple territories and people

Anti-Colonial Resistance

Liberations movements, new definitions of cosmopolitanism, transnational, cross-ethnic and transracial solidarities, new political imaginaries and visions - Julian Go

Assumption

Forms of empire have shaped the past and shaped the present - Julian Go

Cultural Schemas

Law reflects systems of domination - both coercive and ideological - Karl

Marx and Alan Hunt- Domination

The subjection of one or more classes to another class in such a way that exploitative relation are perpetuated

Marx and Alan Hunt-Coercive Domination

They need to protect the general condition of capitalist society leads to coercion imposed to protect the property of capitalist class and maintains the general social order, which is needed to maintain capitalist interests

Marx and Alan Hunt- Ideological Domination

A differential ability of groups and classes in society to produce, communicate and disseminate ideas that reaffirm and reproduce the existing forms of class domination

Bureaucracy

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives. Max Weber

Right hand of the state

Economic policies like budget cuts, deregulation, and incentives affect government institutions, including police, courts, and prisons.

Left hand of the state

Distributes goods and services to the public such as; Public education, housing, medical care and hospitals, welfare, labor law, teachers, family counselors, youth leaders, judges

What does it mean to study law sociologically?

A social institution shaped by society, power, culture, and inequality. It examines how law affects and is experienced in everyday life.

What are the main functions of law in society?

Law maintains social order, resolves disputes, protects rights, and legitimizes authority. It can also reinforce social hierarchies and inequalities depending on how it's applied and who has access to it.

How do legal institutions reflect society's values?

Legal systems are built around a society's dominant moral beliefs and political structures. For example, U.S. law emphasizes individual rights and property ownership, reflecting capitalist and liberal democratic values.

What did Émile Durkheim argue about law and social solidarity?

argued that law mirrors social solidarity: repressive in simple societies and restitutive in complex ones to maintain interdependence.

How did Karl Marx view the law?

viewed law as a tool for the ruling class, enforcing capitalist interests and maintaining class inequality while appearing fair.

What did Max Weber mean by "rational-legal authority"?

argued modern law relies on rational-legal authority, with bureaucratic, rule-based systems that are efficient but impersonal.

How can law reinforce inequality?

Laws can seem neutral but often produce unequal outcomes, reinforcing class, race, and gender inequalities.

What is "access to justice," and why is it unequal?

is the ability to use the legal system, but marginalized groups often face barriers like cost, language, and discrimination.

How does racialization appear in the legal system?

is judging people based on racial stereotypes, leading to biased policing, sentencing, and unequal treatment in court.

Why is language important in the legal system?

affects justice, as misinterpretation or poor translation can cause unfair trials. Court interpreters help, but their work reflects broader power imbalances.

What happens when courts fail to provide proper interpretation?

Defendants may misunderstand charges, give inaccurate testimony, or fail to exercise their rights. This undermines due process and reflects institutional inequality based on language and race.

Can law create social change, or does it mainly reflect society?

can do both. It often reflects existing social norms but can also push change (e.g., Civil Rights Act, marriage equality). However, for change to last, broader social and cultural support is usually needed.

What role did the civil rights movement play in changing legal systems?

Activists used law strategically to challenge discrimination—cases like Brown v. Board of Education showed how court rulings can promote equality. Yet, actual enforcement depends on social and political will.

How do grassroots movements influence law?

Social movements pressure lawmakers, raise awareness, and file test cases. They often frame injustices as legal rights issues (e.g., environmental justice, immigrant rights).

What is the main argument of Yazdiha's article?

views law and culture as interlinked, with law acting as a cultural system of symbols and practices that shape and reflect social meanings.

What does Yazdiha mean by "dominant approaches" to studying law and culture?

Earlier approaches often treated law and culture as distinct:

Instrumental approach: Law as a tool used by culture/society to achieve goals.

Reflective approach: Law as a mirror of existing cultural values.Both miss how law actively shapes cultural life itself.

What are the "new directions" Yazdiha identifies?

Law can be seen as cultural practice and discourse that shapes identities. Studying it through everyday experiences reveals its intersections with race, gender, language, and emotion.

What role did law play in colonialism?

Law served as a tool of colonial domination, justifying Western systems as superior and controlling land, labor, and people while marginalizing indigenous customs.

How does colonial law still affect societies today?

Postcolonial states often retain colonial legal systems, which continue to favor elites and marginalize indigenous justice practices.

Define mechanical solidarity

A form of unity based on shared beliefs and similarities; typical of small, traditional societies.

What type of law corresponds to mechanical solidarity?

Repressive law — law that punishes severely to protect the collective conscience.

According to Durkheim, what is the purpose of punishment?

To reaffirm social norms and preserve moral unity, not simply to deter or rehabilitate.

How does the concept of "crime" differ in Durkheim's view from legal definitions?

Crime isn't inherently evil — it's whatever offends a society's collective conscience at a given time.

What happens to the collective conscience as societies modernize?

It weakens; people become more individualistic, leading to organic solidarity and restitutive law.

What is the main goal of the Combahee River Collective?

To develop a political movement addressing the interlocking oppressions of race, gender, sexuality, and class, centered on the liberation of Black women.