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Sociology of law is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology, focusing on the study of law as a social phenomenon. Sociology of law is also often conceived of as an approach within the field of legal studies, stressing the actual social effects of legal institutions, doctrines, and practices and vice versa. In the latter sense, the sociology of law is part of a more broadly conceived law and society approach or socio-legal studies. The sociology of law is not to be confused with sociological jurisprudence. The latter is a perspective in legal science , developed in the United States by Roscoe Pound and by earlier jurists in various European countries, that seeks to base legal arguments on sociological insights. The sociology of law was initially developed in Europe by such scholars as Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Eugen Ehrlich, Georges Gurvitch and Theodor Geiger, and in the US by William Graham Sumner, Nicholas Timasheff (like Gurvitch a student of Leon Petrażycki), Philip Selznick and Talcott Parsons.

• Reza Banakar and Max Travers, eds, An Introduction to Law and Social Theory. Oxford: Hart, 2002
• Reza Banakar and Max Travers, eds, Theory and Method in Socio-Legal Research. Oxford: Hart, 2005
• Roger Cotterrell, The Sociology of Law: An Introduction 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press / Butterworths, 1992
• Vincenzo Ferrari, ed, Developing Sociology of Law: A World-Wide Documentary Enquiry. Milano: Giuffre, 1990
• Michael Freeman, ed, Law and Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006
• Austin Sarat, ed, Blackwell Companion to Law and Society. Malden, Mass. and Oxford: Blackwell, 2004

Related sociological subfields include political sociology and the sociology of deviance. Other social sciences, such as Anthropology, Criminology, and Political Science, also include specialized approaches to the study of law.

• Criminology
• International Institute for the Sociology of Law
• Law
• Legal Realism

• American Sociological Association Section: Sociology of Law
• International Journal of the Sociology of Law
• International Sociological Association: Research Committee on Sociology of Law RC12
• Socio-Legal Studies Association
• Law and Society Association

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	Legal systems	Common law | Civil law | Religious law | Socialist law | Comparative law
	Legal theory	History of Law | Philosophy of law | Economic analysis of law | Sociology of law
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