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University of California Press

About the Book

Law and Society Today is a problem-oriented survey of sociolegal studies, with a unique emphasis on recent historical and political developments. Whereas other texts focus heavily on criminal procedure, this book foregrounds the significant changes of the 2000s and 2010s, including neoliberalism, migration, multiculturalism, and the large influence of law and economics in law teaching, policy debates, and judicial decision-making.

Each chapter presents key concepts, real-world applications, and hypothetical problems that allow students to test comprehension. With an integrated approach to theory and practice and written in an accessible tone, this text helps students recognize the dynamic forces that shape the way the law is constructed and implemented, particularly how law drives social inequality.

About the Author

Riaz Tejani is Associate Professor at the University of Redlands. He is the author of Law Mart: Justice, Access, and For-Profit Law Schools. His work has been cited by and reviewed in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, The Nation, Salon, Inside Higher Ed, and NPR.
 

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Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

UNIT 1
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction: Legal and Social Change
Chapter 2: Where Law Meets Society
Chapter 3: Comparative Legal Communities

UNIT 2
Legal Constructions of Society
Chapter 4: History
Chapter 5: Family
Chapter 6: Place
Chapter 7: Religion
Chapter 8: Class, Race, and Gender

UNIT 3
Social Constructions of Law
Chapter 9: The Socialization of Lawyers
Chapter 10: Criminal and Civil Justice
Chapter 11: Justice and Popular Culture

UNIT 4
Special Topics of Advanced Sociolegal Change
Chapter 12: Art Forms
Chapter 13: Science and Technology
Chapter 14: Nature

Notes
List of Cases
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

"This is the book many people have been waiting for: a definitive, beautifully written, incisive introduction to the sprawling field of law and society that also ranges across diverse disciplines and subject areas yet is knit together by a commitment to explore real-world problems of justice for ordinary people in the here and now."—Ariela Gross, Professor of Law and History, University of Southern California Gould School of Law

“For more than half a century, scholars have examined the interrelationship of law, social norms, and social change, producing a rich body of scholarly literature for consumption and study. Professor Riaz Tejani has brilliantly added further definition to this important and expanding field through this innovative and pathbreaking textbook and has laid a foundation for the creation of even more courses and formal textbooks in the field.”—Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Professor of Boston University School of Law