Sociology of Law : A Reader

Sociology of Law: A Reader provides students with engaging literature that addresses law as both dependent and independent variables of the social conditions in which it operates. Through a collection of carefully selected readings, the text examines the themes of social roots and social consequences of the law, the legal profession, and the influence of gender and racial structures on legal inequality. 

The reader begins with a chapter regarding lawmaking and featuring articles that address gender rights, judicial elections, the morality of law, and executive orders. Additional chapters examine law enforcement, law as conflict resolution, and law as social change. Students read about contemporary issues regarding gender, race, and the law, including the reporting of sexual assault and harassment and the relationship between people of color and sentencing bias. The closing chapter includes readings on the legal profession, including discussion of the role and limitations of law in addressing racial bias and discrimination, criticism of the judiciary, and reflections from a female judge. 

Filling a gap in current literature in the discipline, Sociology of Law is an ideal resource for courses in sociology and the sociology of law.

Gloria T. Lessan is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Florida State University. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Tulane University of Louisiana and a M.A. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Dr. Lessan’s scholarship has been featured in Social Forces, Psychological Reports, Social Science and Medicine, Revista de Ciencias Sociales, and Crime, Law and Social Change. She holds a Global Partner Certificate from Florida State University.