The Social Structure of Right and Wrong

Reviews / Votes

"Donald Black dramatically expands the scope of his work on law to the handling of conflict across a vast and diverse range of historical and cultural settings...The general paradigm he develops is applicable to an even broader range of issues in social science...His new work will continue to inspire further empirical research and theoretical work for years to come." --Roberta Senechal de la Roche in LAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY "Black's vivid and powerful theorizing on...the form, style, and quantity of human conflict and the application of morality remains insightful and highly original throughout; his elegant models are quintessentially sociological and almost unlimited in scope...Addresses a central and undertheorized topic in sociology and does so in creative and masterful fashion." --Theory Prize Committee, American Sociological Association, in PERSPECTIVES "People appreciate its elegance and simplicity, the awesome scope of its vision, the graceful symmetry of its arguments. I am reminded of great art when I read it." --Thomas J. Bernard, Pennsylvania State University, American Society of Criminology, symposium on THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF RIGHT AND WRONG "Black has developed his major theoretical works with such rigor at a conceptual level that...they merit comparison to the major works of Parsons, Luhmann, Habermas, and then to those of the classics...An aspiration grander than Durkheims...and Black more fully realizes his aspiration...There is one other quality in Blacks major works that reminds me of the classics: it takes courage to write the kind of books he writes...Black says things that prominent individuals do not want to hear, and he says them loudly and clearly." --David Sciulli in LAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY "Black has contributed much to sociology and law. He has introduced science to law and law to sociology...Law can now be studied objectively, theorized generally, and predicted universally...The discipline of sociology of law owes him much for his...relentless effort, unsurpassed intellect, and selfless devotion." --Kam C. Wong in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF LAW "Donald Black continues to present us with creative ideas, and the logic behind the sequencing of the chapters and the clear organization reveal another systematic approach to the study of social control...The advantage of Blacks approach is important.His heuristic research strategy can help explicate social processes such as norm formation, power realignment, economic consolidation, solidarity enhancement, and deviance creation in terms of other abstract features, which are then examined in a varietyof social contexts varying in scale, complexity, degree of formalization, and historical and comparative setting...His approach...has great breadth and is open to confirmation or disconfirmation." --Pat Lauderdale, School of Justice, Arizona State University, in CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY