FROM STRUGGLE TO ORDER: LAW IN THE THEORIES OF MARX, DURKHEIM, AND WEBER

Abstract

The sociology of law is one of the essential disciplines in the academic training of a jurist and is important for the study of any legal topic. In this context, this work aims to analyze the classical conceptions of legal sociology, based on the contributions of Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber, in order to understand the theoretical foundations that structure modern law. Through a theoretical approach, the work shows that, for Marx, in Economic Manuscripts of 1857-1858 and Capital, law constitutes an instrument of the capitalist superstructure, aimed at maintaining class inequalities; for Durkheim, in The Rules of Sociological Method and The Division of Labor in Society, it represents a social fact whose form reflects the type of solidarity prevailing in a given society; and, for Weber, in Economy and Society, law is a rational order of legal domination, linked to bureaucracy and the legitimation of power. Comparative analysis demonstrates that, although they start from distinct epistemological assumptions, the three authors converge on the centrality of law in social organization and the reproduction of power relations, as well as on the perspective of law as an instrument of domination and, potentially, of social transformation, depending on how power is distributed and legitimized in different spheres of modernity. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the research reinforces the importance of a critical reading of the legal phenomenon, situated within the historical and sociological context of modern social relations.