How Does Law Matter?: Fundamental Issues in Law and Society
The question of how law matters has long been fundamental to the
law and society field. Social science scholarship has repeatedly
demonstrated that law matters less, or differently, than those who
study only legal doctrine would have us believe. Yet research in
this field depends on a belief in the relevance of law, no matter
how often gaps are identified.
The essays in this collection show how law is relevant in both an
"instrumental" and a "constitutive" sense, as a
tool to accomplish particular purposes and as an important force in
shaping the everyday worlds in which we live. Essays examine these
issues by focusing on legal consciousness, the body,
discrimination, and colonialism as well as on more traditional
legal concerns such as juries and criminal justice.
