concise summaries of other contemporary and "classic" theorists. (Title of previous editions: "A Primer in the Sociology of Law.") Chapter topics include: - Classic theories: Durkheim; Weber; and Marx. - Sociological jurisprudence and legal realism; critical legal studies and critical race theory; and feminist jurisprudence. - Structural functionalism; Autopoiesis; and the behavior of law. - Legal Semiotics; and a Marxist semiotic perspective. - Semiotics and Postmodern perspectives. Sociology of law is the discipline that studies the causes and legitimation of law, forms of legal discourse and reasoning, the development of legal bureaucracies, the evolution of the "reasonable man" concept in law, the degree of coercion and freedom embodied in law, and the connection between the forms of law and a society's political and economic institutions.

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