Book cover of "Locating Law" featuring silhouettes of people on a textured background with lace patterns in blue and cream tones.

Locating Law, 2nd Edition

Race / Class / Gender / Sexuality Connections

One primary concern within the study of law has been to understand the law/society relation. Underlying this concern is the belief that law has a distinctly social basis; it both shapes and is shaped by the society in which it operates. This book explores the law/society relation by locating law within the nexus of race/class/gender/sexuality relations in society. Recognizing that inequalities along these lines exist in society raises important questions: What role has law historically played in generating today’s inequalities? Is law part of the problem or part of the solution? Can we use law as a strategy to achieve meaningful change? The essays in this new edition of Locating Law demonstrate law’s role in a variety of specific contexts, including perpetuating colonialism in Canada, protecting corporations and holding women responsible for sexual violence against them. These analyses are sure to generate discussion and debate and, in the process, enhance our understanding of this important relation between law and society.

This edition has been replaced by Locating Law, 3rd Edition

About the book

What people are saying

Cathy Fillmore, Department of Sociology, University of Winnipeg
Praise for the first edition: “This unique collection of essays always opens up discussion and debate on many compelling issues in the sociology of law… students are challenged to think critically about the relations between law and society. Locating Law is an essential text for undergraduate students in sociology and criminology.”

Author

Person with curly white hair and glasses smiling at camera in black and white portrait photo.

Elizabeth Comack

Elizabeth Comack is a distinguished professor emerita in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba. Comack’s work in the sociology of law and feminist criminology has been instrumental in setting the course for Canadian scholarship. She is a member of the Manitoba Research Alliance, a consortium of academics and community partners engaged in research addressing poverty in Indigenous and inner-city communities. Comack is the author or editor of 13 books, including Coming Back to Jail: Women, Trauma, and Criminalization; “Indians Wear Red”: Colonialism, Resistance, and Aboriginal Street Gangs (co-authored with Laurie Deane, Larry Morrissette, and Jim Silver); and Racialized Policing: Aboriginal People’s Encounters with Police.