Pub. date: 2006 | Online Pub. Date: September 15, 2007 | DOI:
10.4135/9781412952453 | Print ISBN: 9780761930297 | Online ISBN:
9781412952453 | Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this
encyclopedia Law and Anthropology Patricia E. Erickson Law and
anthropology (or legal anthropology) examines the relationship
among society, culture, and law in societies at various levels
of political, economic, and social complexity. Legal
anthropology is a subfield of the discipline of anthropology;
however, its subject matter is also a focus of interdisciplinary
analysis in fields such as criminal justice, law, philosophy,
and sociology. These academic disciplines analyze the cultural
context of laws and rules, the processes of their development,
how different societies structure competition and conflict, the
manner in which legal institutions function to maintain social
control, and the range of mechanisms used for settling disputes
and maintaining social cohesion. In addition, applied legal
anthropologists, such as fore