ABSTRACT
Sociology consists of many specialties or subfields such as the sociology of deviance, medical sociology, the sociology of education, urban sociology, the sociology of the family, the sociology of race and ethnic relations, the sociology of work and occupations, military sociology, and the sociology of law, or legal sociology. Sociologists are typically interested in studying social institutions, or those forms of organization that are supported by, and meet the basic needs of a society. Much like practitioners in other knowledge-fields, sociologists utilize certain instruments or tools that aid them in learning more about society, its institutions, and social structure. There are three main types of tools used by the sociologist: concepts, theories, and paradigms. The intellectual trends and developments impacting on American legal sociology have been distinct and sundry. Inspired by the works of European legal sociologists Eugen Ehrlich, Nicholas S. Timasheff, and Georges Gurvitch, American sociologists begin to cultivate an interest in sociolegal theory during the 1950s.
