Paper Topic:

Supreme Court and Civil Rights

The role of law in social change is of more than theoretical interest In many areas of social life , such as education , race relations housing , transportation , the protection of the environment , and crime prevention the law and litigation are important for change . The law has been used as a principal factor for improving the political and social position of blacks . The courts have dismantled a racial caste system in law and in practice for generation after generation . The old way of thinking has been changed by legislation , including the Civil Rights Act

and the Voting Rights Acts as well as social welfare programs . These policies have shown very good results . But this has not filtered into other avenues of Civil Rights . I believe that law plays a direct and indirect way for social change and shapes some of the institutions that are important to social change . Mandatory school attendance changed the degree of the labor force , which could be seen in contributing to an increased rate of industrialization and modernization

I see a direct interaction with law and the basic social institutions for example laws prohibiting racial discrimination in education have a direct influence on social change by enabling previously excluded groups to be able to attend schools of their choice . I see it as redefining the normative that society has used . In my opinion the Supreme Court should be more judicially active in the area of Civil Rights protection , because of law defining the normative in social . In our society today we rely heavily on what we are told to do . We use the law to dictate social attitudes too . Take for example George W . Bush 's stand on homosexuality , if you were to ask people the question whether gay marriage is correct or incorrect most would tell you incorrect and if asked why the majority would say because it 's against the law . The same holds true for say marijuana . The reason why individuals do not use the drug is simply for the reason of legality . Whether it is right or wrong is for the debates , but as an example it shows how most American 's view right and wrong is through legal legislation

Social change is a product of a multitude of factors and the relationship they have towards each other . Law and legal cultures are just two and some others might be technology , ideology , conflict political and economic reasons . Admittedly it is always tempting to try and single out one factor , one cause or one explanation and apply it evenly to some problems but we should be very careful not to assign blame for social problems on one factor . We should take into consideration all factors that surround the problem . Technical changes that lead to social changes are a good example of how social change works with the introduction of the automobile laws they were introduced to make it illegal to drive drunk or under the influence or driving with your seat belt for...

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