"Law and Society" is the term for scholarship using a variety of social science methods to study law and legal institutions. The unique contribution of this approach is its focus on meaning-making as a mechanism of legal effect. A foundational assumption is the need to focus on law in action rather than solely on law on the books.
Key law and society concepts, including legal consciousness, law as legality, organizational legalization and organizational politics elaborate how law operates in action through meaning making.
This monograph is included as a chapter in the forthcoming "Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods" book, which is expected to be published in Spring 2013.
The monograph is alternatively availble at the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN): http://ssrn.com/abstract=2041527
Author(s): Robin Stryker, PhD, University of Arizona, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences