Law and social control in Ghana: examining Black’s theory of law.

• In Event: Legal Order and Social Control: Comparative Analyses

Abstract

This paper will assess Black’s (1976) theory of the behavior of law in action in Ghana. Precisely, the study will examine the relationship between law and other forms of social control using official data derived from official sources. Black defines law as official/formal social control and asserts that law varies inversely with other forms of social control. The law, as Black sees it is a creation of the particular features of social situations. For Black, the quantity of law is a dependent variable which changes with other aspects of social life, including stratification, morphology, culture, organization and other dimensions of social control. Social life increase and decrease from one location to another. Black provided a set of 29 quantifiable propositions (independent variables) and asserted that each proposition could be tested empirically. The proposed study will test several of these propositions and viable conclusions drawn.

Author

• Joseph Appiahene-Gyamfi, University of Texas - Pan American