Law and Society ─ An Introduction

Theoretical Approach: Multidisciplinary - anthropology, political science, sociology, psychology, history, etc.

Key Features:

Social Science perspectiveon law and legal system Examines both how law and legal system works and how it is supposed to work Current topics examined

Steven E. Barkan is professor of sociology at the University of Maine, where he has taught since 1979. His teaching and research interests include criminology, sociology of law, and social movements. He is the 2008-2009 president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and had previously served as a member of the SSSP Board of Directors, as chair of its Law and Society Division and Editorial and Publications Committee, and as an advisory editor of its journal,Social Problems. He has served on the student paper award committees of the Crime, Law, and Deviance and Sociology of Law sections of the American Sociological Association. Professor Barkan has written many journal articles dealing with topics such as racial prejudice and death penalty attitudes, views on police brutality, political trials, and feminist activism. These articles have appeared in the American Sociological Review, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Justice Quarterly, Social Forces, Social Problems, Sociological Forum, Sociological Inquiry, and other journals. For Prentice Hall, he is the author of Criminology: A Sociological Understanding, 4/e and of Law and Society: An Introduction (both coming out in early 2008).

Professor Barkan welcomes comments from students and faculty about these books. They may email him at barkan@maine.edu or send regular mail to: Department of Sociology, 5728 Fernald Hall, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469—5728.