Like all social theory, our perspectives on law are firmly rooted in human history. It was much easier, for example, to view law as a broadly consensual, dispassionate protector of rights and arbitrator of disputes when society was characterized by a relatively decentralized market economy populated by small, competing entrepreneurs. The state's role then could be seen as simply that of ensuring the conditions under which the private entrepreneurial spirit could work its magic: creating societal progress from the competitive individual pursuit of wealth. In the main, this role meant state protection of property and contract rights and refereeing of disagreements over them.

But during the past century, such a view of law became less tenable. Increasingly, the state became involved in the fundamental workings of the economy and was forced to stake out positions in the growing conflicts between capital and labor and among sectors of capital (see, e.g., Kolko, 1963; Inverarity, Lauderdale, and Feld, 1983: ch. 7). The state also necessarily developed a major role in the politics of distribution and redistribution, influencing the flow of capital and “life chances,” and played an increasingly important part as purchaser of goods and producer of jobs and services. The workings of state and economy became ever more interwoven, while critical decision making in both sectors became centralized in large, powerful bureaucracies.