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| sociological theories | |
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In 1976, theoretical sociologist Donald Black introduced a general sociological theory of law in his book ''The Behavior of Law.'' The theory exemplified the sociological paradigm, developed by Black, known as pure sociology. A central aspect of this paradigm was the reconceptualization of human behavior as the behavior of social life. Thus, the behavior of numerous individuals can be understood as the behavior of a single phenomenon, and more readily explained. One form of social life is law, defined by Black as governmental social control. Social control is any process of defining and responding to deviance. Any increase of governmental social control-be it a call to the police, an arrest, a prosecution, or a conviction- is thus an increase of law. The word behavior is used here, as it is used in the physical sciences, to refer to variation. In this sense, everything behaves, including particles, storm systems, and law. Legal behavior thus refers to variations in the amount and style of governmental social control from case to case, and across time and history. Black's theory predicts and explains variations in legal behavior, such as why one assault results in a call to the police while another does not, or why one homicide conviction results in capital punishment while another does not. |
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