Lawrence M. Friedman is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Friedman’s book is a bold, imaginative, and carefully reasoned effort to describe the major characteristics of modern American law and its underlying social norms. Law, he urges, is not an autonomous discipline; it grows out of changing popular demands and values. How and why popular legal culture changed during the last century and a half is one important theme of this work.

• 1. Introduction 2. Legalism and Individualism 3. Modernity and the Rise of the Individual 4. Technology and Change 5. On Modern Legal Culture 6. The Chosen Republic 7. Gods, Kings, and Movie Stars 8. Crime, Sexuality, and Social Disorganization 9. The Life-Style Society 10. A Stab at Assessment Appendix: Social Meanings of Key Terms Notes Index

Lawrence M. Friedman is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Friedman’s book is a bold, imaginative, and carefully reasoned effort to describe the major characteristics of modern American law and its underlying social norms. Law, he urges, is not an autonomous discipline; it grows out of changing popular demands and values. How and why popular legal culture changed during the last century and a half is one important theme of this work.

• 1. Introduction 2. Legalism and Individualism 3. Modernity and the Rise of the Individual 4. Technology and Change 5. On Modern Legal Culture 6. The Chosen Republic 7. Gods, Kings, and Movie Stars 8. Crime, Sexuality, and Social Disorganization 9. The Life-Style Society 10. A Stab at Assessment Appendix: Social Meanings of Key Terms Notes Index

Lawrence M. Friedman is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Friedman’s book is a bold, imaginative, and carefully reasoned effort to describe the major characteristics of modern American law and its underlying social norms. Law, he urges, is not an autonomous discipline; it grows out of changing popular demands and values. How and why popular legal culture changed during the last century and a half is one important theme of this work.

• 1. Introduction 2. Legalism and Individualism 3. Modernity and the Rise of the Individual 4. Technology and Change 5. On Modern Legal Culture 6. The Chosen Republic 7. Gods, Kings, and Movie Stars 8. Crime, Sexuality, and Social Disorganization 9. The Life-Style Society 10. A Stab at Assessment Appendix: Social Meanings of Key Terms Notes Index