Brian Z. Tamanaha (St. John’s University – School of Law) has posted A Holistic Vision of the Socio-Legal Terrain (Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems, forthcoming 2008) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This brief essay articulates a thoroughly social perspective on law and legal institutions, a perspective reconstructed from the work of Marc Galanter. It shows how the place of law in society can be understood by attention to two "hemispheres" – the official legal system and the realm of social ordering-and their interpenetration and interaction. It lays out several core themes in socio-legal studies going back several decades, noting Galanter’s seminal theoretical contributions, and argues that these themes remain central to an understanding of law and society.
Brief and recommended.