Stephen Hunt & Maria Serafimova 
Sociology and Law 
The 150th Anniversary of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Emile Durkheim’s conceptual framework outlined social reality as a moral social environment consisting of supra-individual norms for thought and action. Law, morals and other spheres of social order are generated within and by society. Law is a visible external symbol. Durkheim reaches the conclusion that penal law is religious in its nature. Most of the texts deal with the relations between Sociology and Law and refer to Durkheim’s heritage in dealing with specific problems in different societies and fields of study. Topics range from Socio-Legal Studies and Law, to analyses of constitutions, case studies from the judicial system and civil servants, new religious movements, Durkheim’s place in the Sociology of Religion. Other topics cover contemporary ethnic conflict, cyberspace, media, morality, education, gender studies, etc. This book will be of interest to sociologists, lawyers, anthropologists, historians, scholars in cultural studies, religious studies, students, researchers, etc.