Rational Law and Boundary Maintenance

Neo-Marxian critiques of Max Weber's theory of rationality have stressed the ideological role of legal formalism. At the analytic level, however, Weber's theory points to sources of potential conflict between legal formalism and economic rationality. This paper critically reconstructs Weber's perspective for analyzing the boundary maintaining categories of legal discourse. A case study of the 1971 federal loan guarantee to Lockheed Aircraft Corporation demonstrates that while both market ideologies and administrative principles partially bounded the debate over the legislation, this debate did not resolve the question of which businesses should potentially receive government support. This substantive issue raised problems of legal particularism that undermined the universal claims of legal rationality and required an expansion of boundary categories beyond legal formalism, yielding a more economically and politically open discourse

Boundary (topology · Business · Economics · Law and economics · Loan · Political science · Finance · Law · Mathematics · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci · Politics and Society in Latin America

• The Public/Private Distinction

  Open Access•Gerald Turkel•Law & Society Review•1988

  Añadir item

• Foundations of Societal Constitutionalism

  David Sciulli•British Journal of Sociology•1988

  Añadir item

• The Making of Criminal Law Norms in Welfare States

  Open Access•J J Savelsberg•Law & Society Review•1987

  Añadir item

• Dialectics of Norms in Modernization

  Open Access•J J Savelsberg•Sociological Quarterly•2002

  Añadir item

• Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences

  Edward Shils, Max Weber•Max Weber on the Methodology of…•2022

  Añadir item

• The Transformation of American Law, 1780–1860

  Morton J Horwitz•Transformation of American Law,…•1977

  Añadir item

• The Fiscal Crisis of the State

  Open Access•James O’connor, James V O’connor•The Fiscal Crisis of the State•1973

  Añadir item

• Form and Substance in Private Law Adjudication

  Duncan Kennedy•Harvard Law Review•1976

  Añadir item

• Studies in ethnomethodology

  Harold Garfinkel•Studies in ethnomethodology•1984

  Añadir item

• The welfare state and equality

  Harold L Wilensky•The welfare state and equality•1974

  Añadir item

• The Theory Of Social And Economic Organization

  Max Weber•The Theory Of Social And Economic…•1997

  Añadir item

• The Powers That Be

  Christopher Lasch, G William Domhoff•The American Historical Review•1980

  Añadir item

• Max Weber on Law and the Rise of Capitalism

  David M Trubek•Sociology of Law•2017

  Añadir item

• Selections from the Prison Notebooks

  Open Access•Antonio Gramsci•On Violence•2020

  Añadir item

• Law in Modern Society

  Philip Lewis, Ron Unger et al.•British Journal of Law and Society•1977

  Añadir item

• The Modern World-System I

  Immanuel Wallerstein, Antonio Resines et al.•The Modern World-System I:…•2011

  Añadir item

• The Critique of Domination

  Henry Pachter, Trent Schroyer•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1974

  Añadir item

• The Higher Circles

  James J Vanecko, G William Domhoff•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1972

  Añadir item

• Toward a Rational Society

  Andrzej W Tymowski, A Tymowski•Telos•1971

  Añadir item

• The Arms Bazaar

  Open Access•George H Quester•Political Science Quarterly•1977

  Añadir item

• Political Authority and Class Structures – An Analysis of Late Capitalist Societies

  Claus Offe, Michel Vale•International Journal of Sociology•1972

  Añadir item

• On Law in Economy and Society

  Barna Horvath, Max Weber et al.•The American Journal of…•1956

  Añadir item

• Legal Positivism and Bourgeois Materialism

  Martin Albrow•British Journal of Law and Society•1975

  Añadir item

• Complexity and Contradiction in the Legal Order

  Open Access•David M Trubek•Law & Society Review•1977

  Añadir item

• Analyzing Power Structures

  Open Access•G William Domhoff•Insurgent Sociologist•1975

  Añadir item

• Law and the Balance of Power

  Leon Mayhew, Stewart Macaulay•American Sociological Review•1968

  Añadir item

• Commodity Form and Legal Form

  Open Access•Isaac D Balbus•Law & Society Review•1977

  Añadir item

• Testing Durkheim

  Open Access•Gerald Turkel•Law & Society Review•1979

  Añadir item

• The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860

  James H Kettner, Morton J Horwitz•The Journal of Interdisciplinary…•1977

  Añadir item

• The Welfare State and Equality

  Samuel A Rea, Harold Wilensky et al.•Industrial and Labor Relations…•1976

  Añadir item

• Central Problems in Social Theory

  Open Access•Anthony Giddens•Central Problems In Social Theory…•1979

  Añadir item

• Rethinking Sociology

  Marcello Truzzi, Irving M Zeitlin•Social Forces•1975

  Añadir item

• Max Weber and Sociology Today

  Open Access•J E T Eldridge•Sociology•1974

  Añadir item

• The Concept of Rationality in the Work of Max Weber

  Open Access•Ann Swidler•Sociological Inquiry•1973

  Añadir item