ABSTRACT
Both inducement and coercion operate in all social relationships. The basis of the relation of law to political organization lies primarily in the fact that at certain points the question must inevitably arise as to the use of physical force or its threat as a means of coercion; that is, a means of assertion of the bindingness of the norm. Despite the general ways in which lawyers, as professionals, contribute to social control, it is important to note certain crucial differences between law and other control mechanisms. Under a system of law, however, the question of whether or not conformity occurs can never be a matter of indifference. The interpretive and legitimizing functions in law are even less directly political than are the sanctioning and the jurisdictional functions. Law flourishes particularly in a society in which the most fundamental questions of social values are not currently at issue or under agitation.
