For nearly 60 years, Law & Society Review, LSA’s widely recognized journal, has published influential empirical and theoretical articles investigating the relationship between society and the legal process. LSR has fostered a growing interdisciplinary field that spans academic disciplines and international borders.
If you are a LSA member, you already know that you have access to LSR. But you may not be aware that your membership now includes access to the entire back catalog, stretching back to the very first issue from 1966. To view the full catalog of LSR:
- Log in to your LSA member profile
- Click “Member Benefits”
- Click “Access Your Online LSR”
- Follow the link on the “LSR Online Subscription Access Instructions” page
- This will take you to the Cambridge Core website, which publishes LSR
- Click “All Issues”
- This will take you to the archives, organized by decade
To illustrate LSR’s influence over the years, we have compiled a list of the top ten most cited LSR articles throughout its history (as of September 25, 2024). Happy reading!
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The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing
Jason Sunshine and Tom R. Tyler, 2003
Abstract Excerpt: “This study explores two issues about police legitimacy. The first issue is the relative importance of police legitimacy in shaping public support of the police and policing activities, compared to the importance of instrumental judgments about (1) the risk that people will be caught and sanctioned for wrongdoing, (2) the performance of the police in fighting crime, and/or (3) the fairness of the distribution of police services.”
Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change
Marc Galanter, 1975
Abstract Excerpt: “This essay attempts to discern some of the general features of a legal system like the American by drawing on (and rearranging) commonplaces and less than systematic gleanings from the literature. The speculative and tentative nature of the assertions here will be apparent and is acknowledged here wholesale to spare myself and the reader repeated disclaimers.”
Legal Cynicism and (Subcultural?) Tolerance of Deviance: The Neighborhood Context of Racial Differences
Robert J. Sampson and Dawn Jeglum Bartusch, 1998
Abstract Excerpt: “We advance here a neighborhood-level perspective on racial differences in legal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and the tolerance of various forms of deviance. Our basic premise is that structural characteristics of neighborhoods explain variations in normative orientations about law, criminal justice, and deviance that are often confounded with the demographic characteristics of individuals.”
Legal Pluralism
Sally Engle Merry, 1988
Abstract Excerpt: “The intellectual odyssey of the concept of legal pluralism moves from the discovery of indigenous forms of law among remote African villagers and New Guinea tribesmen to debates concerning the pluralistic qualities of law under advanced capitalism. In the last decade, the concept of legal pluralism has been applied to the study of social and legal ordering in urban industrial societies, primarily the United States, Britain, and France. Indeed, given a sufficiently broad definition of the term legal system, virtually every society is legally plural, whether or not it has a colonial past. Legal pluralism is a central theme in the reconceptualization of the law/society relation.”
The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming . . .
William L.F. Felstiner, Richard L. Abel and Austin Sarat, 1981
Abstract Excerpt: “The emergence and transformation of disputes, especially before they enter formal legal institutions, is a neglected topic in the sociology of law. We provide a framework for studying the processes by which unperceived injurious experiences are—or are not—perceived (naming), do or do not become grievances (blaming) and ultimately disputes (claiming), as well as for subsequent transformations. We view each of these stages as subjective, unstable, reactive, complicated, and incomplete.”
Enduring Individual Differences and Rational Choice Theories of Crime
Daniel S. Nagin and Raymond Paternoster, 1993
Abstract Excerpt: “In explaining crime, some criminological theories emphasize time-stable individual differences in propensity to offend while others emphasize more proximate and situational factors. Using scenario data from a sample of college undergraduates we have found evidence to support both positions. A measure of criminal propensity (poor self-control) was found to be significantly related to self-reported decisions to commit three offenses (drunk driving, theft, and sexual assault).”
Law and Social Change: The Semi-Autonomous Social Field as an Appropriate Subject of Study
Sally Falk Moore, 1973
Abstract Excerpt: “In our highly centralized political system, with its advanced technology and communications apparatus, it is tempting to think that legal innovation can effect social change. Roscoe Pound perceived the law as a tool for social engineering (1965: 247–252). Some version of this idea is the current rationale for most legislation. Underlying the social engineering view is the assumption that social arrangements are susceptible to conscious human control, and that the instrument by means of which this control is to be achieved is the law. In such formulations “the law” is a short term for a very complex aggregation of principles, norms, ideas, rules, practices, and the activities of agencies of legislation, administration, adjudication and enforcement, backed by political power and legitimacy.”
Conscience, Significant Others, and Rational Choice: Extending the Deterrence Model
Harold G. Grasmick and Robert J. Bursik Jr., 1990
Abstract Excerpt: “We propose that significant others and conscience function as agents of social control in a manner similar to the State. All three pose possible threats or costs that are more or less certain and severe which actors take into account in considering whether or not to violate the law. State-imposed costs, which have been addressed in the literature on deterrence, are material deprivations in the form of fines and incarceration. Socially imposed costs are the embarrassment or loss of respect actors might experience when they violate norms which significant others support. Self-imposed costs are shame or guilt feelings which actors might impose upon themselves when they offend their own conscience by engaging in behaviors they consider morally wrong.”
Subversive Stories and Hegemonic Tales: Toward a Sociology of Narrative
Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, 1995
Abstract Excerpt: “The authors outline a sociology of narrative—an analysis of the role of narrative in various social contexts, including academic sociolegal scholarship. Narratives are social acts that depend for their production and cognition on norms of performance and content that specify when, what, how, and why stories are told. Because narratives are situationally produced and interpreted, they have no necessary political or epistemological valence but depend on the particular context and organization of their production for their political effect.”
What is Procedural Justice?: Criteria Used by Citizens to Assess the Fairness of Legal Procedures
Tom R. Tyler, 1988
Abstract Excerpt: “This paper examines procedural justice in the context of citizen experiences with the police and courts. It is based on interviews of 652 citizens with recent personal experiences involving those authorities. I will consider two issues: first, whether the justice of the procedures involved influences citizen satisfaction with outcomes and evaluations of legal authorities; and second, how citizens define “fair process” in such settings. The results replicate those of past studies, which found that procedural justice has a major influence on both satisfaction and evaluation. They further suggest that such procedural justice judgments are complex and multifaceted.”