Donald Black (sociologist)
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__NOTOC__ Donald Black (born 1941) is a University Professor of the
Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
. Black received his Ph.D. in sociology from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1968, and he taught at
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
before moving to
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in 1985. Black is the author of ''The Behavior of Law'', ''The Manners and Customs of the Police'', and ''Sociological Justice'', all of which present various aspects of his theory of law. More recently, ''The Social Structure of Right and Wrong'' extends the theory to address
conflict management Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance i ...
more broadly. It thus focuses on instances where people handle conflicts through means other than the law, such as through gossip, avoidance, suicide, or feuding. Black's latest book, ''Moral Time'', identifies the causes of moral conflict in all human relationships. Black is also the founder of ''
pure sociology Like rational choice theory, conflict theory, or functionalism, pure sociology is a sociological paradigm — a strategy for explaining human behavior. Developed by Donald Black as an alternative to individualistic and social-psychological theo ...
'', a distinctive theoretical approach that explains human behavior with its
social geometry Social geometry is a theoretical strategy of sociological explanation, invented by sociologist Donald Black, which uses a multi-dimensional model to explain variations in the behavior of social life. In Black's own use and application of the idea, ...
. Since pure sociology is a general sociological paradigm, it may be applied to subjects other than law, conflict, and conflict management—for example, art, religion, and ideas.Black, Donald. 2000. "Dreams of Pure Sociology." Sociological Theory 18:343-367.


See also

* Legal behavior


References


Further reading


Works by Black

* 1970. “Production of Crime Rates.” ''American Sociological Review'' 35:733-748. * 1971. “The Social Organization of Arrest.” ''Stanford Law Review'' 23:1087-1111. * 1972. “The Boundaries of Legal Sociology.” ''Yale Law Journal'' 81:1086-1100. * 1973. “The Mobilization of Law.” Journal of Legal Studies 2:125-149. * 1973. “Introduction.” Pages 1–14 in ''The Social Organization of Law'', edited by Donald Black and Maureen Mileski. New York: Academic Press. * 1976. ''The Behavior of Law''. New York: Academic Press. * 1979. “Common Sense in the Sociology of Law.” ''American Sociological Review'' 44(1):18-27. * 1979. “A Note on the Measurement of Law.” Informationsbrief für Rechtssoziologie, Sonderheft 2:92-106. * 1979. “A Strategy of Pure Sociology.” Pages 149–168 in ''Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology'', edited by Scott G. McNall. New York: St. Martin's Press. * 1980. ''The Manners and Customs of the Police''. New York: Academic Press. * 1981. “The Relevance of Legal Anthropology.” ''Contemporary Sociology'' 10(1):43-46. * 1983. “Crime as Social Control.” ''American Sociological Review'' 48:34-45. * 1984. ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 1: Fundamentals''. Orlando: Academic Press. (editor) * 1984. “Preface.” ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 1: Fundamentals'', edited by Donald Black. Orlando: Academic Press. * 1984. “Social Control as a Dependent Variable.” In ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 1: Fundamentals'', edited by Donald Black. Orlando: Academic Press. (editor) * 1984. ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 2: Selected Problems''. Orlando: Academic Press. (editor) * 1984. “Preface.” ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 2'': Selected Problems, edited by Donald Black. Orlando: Academic Press. * 1984. “Crime as Social Control.” Pages 1–27 in ''Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 2: Selected Problems'', edited by Donald Black. Orlando: Academic Press. * 1984. “Jurocracy in America.” ''The Tocqueville Review – La Revue Tocquevelle'' 6:273-281. * 1987. “Compensation and the Social Structure of Misfortune.” ''Law & Society Review'' 21(4):563-584. * 1987. “A Note on the Sociology of Islamic Law.” Pages 47–62 in ''Perspectives on Islamic Law, Justice and Society'', edited by Ravindra S. Khare. Working Papers, Number 3. Charlottesville: Center for Advanced Studies University of Virginia. * 1989. ''Sociological Justice''. New York: Oxford University Press. * 1990. “The Elementary Forms of Conflict Management.” In ''New Direction in the Study of Justice, Law, and Social Control'', prepared by the School of Justice Studies, Arizona State University. New York: Plenum Press. * 1991. “Relative Justice.” ''Litigation'' 18:32-35. * 1992. “Social Control of the Self.” Pages 39–49 in ''Virginia Review of Sociology: Law and Conflict Management'', edited by James Tucker. Greenwich: JAI Press Inc. * 1993. “La Mobilisation du Droit: Autobiographie d’un Concept: (The Mobilization of Law: Autobiography of a Concept”). Pages 376–378 in ''Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de Théorie et de Sociologie de Droit'', under the direction of André-Jean Arnaud. Paris: Librairie, Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence. * 1995. “The Epistemology of Pure Sociology.” ''Law and Social Inquiry'' 20:829-870.\ * 1997. “The Lawyerization of Legal Sociology.” ''Amici'' (Newsletter of the Sociology of Law Section, American Sociological Association) 5:4-7. * 1998. ''The Social Structure of Right and Wrong''. San Diego: Academic Press. * 2000. “On the Origin of Morality.” ''Journal of Consciousness Studies'' 7:107-1191. * 2000. “The Purification of Sociology.” ''Contemporary Sociology'' 29(5):704-709. * 2000. “Dreams of Pure Sociology.” ''Sociological Theory'' 18(3):343-367. * 2002. “The Geometry of Law: An Interview with Donald Black”, by Aaron Bell. ''International Journal of the Sociology of Law'' 30:101-129. * 2002. “Terrorism as Social Control. Part I: The Geometry of Destruction.” American Sociological Association Crime, Law, and Deviance Newsletter Spring:3-5. * 2002. “Terrorism as Social Control. Part II: The Geometry of Retaliation.” American Sociological Association Crime, Law, and Deviance Newsletter Summer:3-5. * 2002. “Pure Sociology and the Geometry of Discovery.” In Toward a New Science of Sociology: A Retrospective Evaluation of The Behavior of Law, by Allan V. Horwitz. ''Contemporary Sociology'' 31(6):668-674. * 2004. “The Geometry of Terrorism.” In “Theories of Terrorism,” symposium edited by Roberta Senechal de la Roche. ''Sociological Theory'' 22:14-25. * 2004. “Violent Structures.” Pages 145–158 in ''Violence: From Theory to Research'', edited by Margaret A. Zahn, Henry H. Brownstein, and Shelly L. Jackson. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Company. * 2004. “Terrorism as Social Control.” In ''Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: Criminological Perspectives'', edited by Mathieu Deflem. New York: Elsevier Ltd. * 2007. “Legal Relativity.” In the ''Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives'', Volume 3, edited by David S. Clark. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. * 2010. “How Law Behaves: An Interview with Donald Black,” by Mara Abramowitz. ''International Journal of Law'', Crime and Justice 38:37-47. * 2010. ''The Behavior of Law'' (Special Edition). Bingley, England: Emerald. * 2011. ''Moral Time''. New York: Oxford University Press.


Related sources

Works relying heavily upon Black's theoretical approach, including his
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
and his explanatory model. See also, references section of
Pure Sociology Like rational choice theory, conflict theory, or functionalism, pure sociology is a sociological paradigm — a strategy for explaining human behavior. Developed by Donald Black as an alternative to individualistic and social-psychological theo ...
. * Baumgartner, M.P. 1988. ''The Moral Order of the Suburb''. New York: Oxford University Press. * ________________. 1992. "War and peace in early childhood". Pages 1–38 in ''Virginia Review of Sociology Volume I'', edited by James Tucker. Orlando: Academic Press. * Borg, Marian J. 1992. "Conflict management and the modern world-system". ''Sociological Forum'' 7:261-282. * Campbell, Bradley. 2010. “Contradictory Behavior During Genocides.” ''Sociological Forum'' 25(2):296-314. * Cooney, Mark. 1997. "From Warre to Tyranny: Lethal Conflict and the State." ''American Sociological Review'' 62 (2): 316–338. * ____________. 1997b. "The Decline of Elite Homicide." ''Criminology'' 35(3): 381–407. * ____________. 1998. ''Warriors and Peacemakers: How Third Parties Shape Violence''. New York: New York University Press. * Morrill, Calvin. 1995. ''The Executive Way: Conflict Management in Corporations''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * Senechal de la Roche, Roberta. 1996. “Collective Violence as Social Control.” ''Sociological Forum'' 11(1):97-128. * Tucker, James. 1993. "Everyday Forms of Employee Resistance". ''Sociological Forum'' 8: 25–45. * _____________. 1999. ''The Therapeutic Corporation''. New York: Oxford University Press.


Critical references

*Greenberg, David F. 1983. "Donald Black's Sociology of Law: A Critique." ''Law and Society Review'' 17:337-368. *Hunt, Alan. 1983. "Behavioral Sociology of Law: A Critique of Donald Black". ''Journal of law and society'' 10 (1): 19–46. *Marshall, Douglas A. 2008. “The Dangers of Purity: On the Incompatibility of ‘Pure Sociology’ and Science” ''The Sociological Quarterly'' 49(2): 209–235. *Marshall, Douglas A. 2008. “Taking the Rhetoric out of Theoretic Debate: A Rejoinder to Michalski” ''The Sociological Quarterly'' 49(2): 275–284. *Smith, Christian. 2010. "Network Structuralism's Missing Persons." Chapter 4 of ''What is a Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up''. University of Chicago Press. *Wong, Kam C. 1995. "Black's Theory on the Behavior of Law Revisited." ''International Journal of the Sociology of Law'' 23(1):189-232.


External links

*
Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
Oxford Bibliographies Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Donald (sociologist Living people American legal writers American sociologists University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Harvard Law School faculty University of Virginia faculty 1941 births