Additional information
by Sally F. Moore (Editor)
This Reader offers a remarkable overview of the field of law and anthropology: its development, present, and potential future courses.
- Edited by a preeminent anthropologist, lawyer, and pioneer in the study of law & anthropology.
- Brings together classics of political thought and key contemporary work from social scientists and lawyers.
- Explores historical issues and more contemporary ones such as illegal migration, human rights, gender discrimination, political corruption, and reparations for injustices committed by previous regimes.
Back Jacket
The study of law was a cornerstone of early anthropological and sociological discussions. Precisely because social scientists like Weber and Durkheim were preoccupied with understanding the processes of social evolution and the form of the state, comparisons between law in European and non-European contexts became a central focus.
Today the study of law is a focus of new interest in the social sciences. How is the place of law to be understood? Where does it fit in the totality of social life? It is well known that law is often circumvented, whether in the financial world, in the drug business, in international affairs, or in matters touching on human rights. How much does the law determine what happens in a society?
Contemporary social scientists looking at law are now preoccupied with this question as they inspect such topics as international transactions, illegal migration, gender discrimination, political corruption, distributions of property, and reparations by new governments for injustices committed by previous regimes. In Law and Anthropology: A Reader, Sally Falk Moore has created a collection that breaks down disciplinary fences. The Reader brings together historical classics of political thought and examples of contemporary work from social scientists and lawyers. In presenting this varied range of material, Moore offers a remarkable overview of the field of law and anthropology: its development, its present, and potential future courses.
Author Biography
Sally Falk Moore is Professor of Anthropology, Emerita, at Harvard University. She is winner of the 2005 Harry Kalven Prize, for empirical scholarship that has contributed most effectively to the advancement of research in law and society.
