Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx have been deeply influential in developing the sociology of law. While many argue that their ideas build upon one another, others argue that the thoughts of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx simply repeat, in different words, many of the same theories. The Supreme Court Cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger provide real-word examples of how Marx, Durheim and Weber saw the sociology of the law.
             Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx all had a profound influence on the development of the sociology of law, and their theories built upon the other in many ways. Durkheim, Weber, and Marx are known as classical sociological theorists who argued that specific structural conditions led to different types of law and unique legal systems.
             Weber looked at economic, ideological and poetical factors in trying to lead him to a multi-causal explanation (page 46). Marx never developed a sociology of law per se, although he does stand "with Durkheim and Weber as a giant in the analysis of society" (page 49).
             It can also be argued that the theories of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx simply repeat, in different words, many of the theories developed by the others. In fact, the movement of many law schools away from the jurisprudence school of thought and toward a more sociological analysis often lumps Durkheim, Weber, and Marx together as "classical theorists" (page 6) of "sociologically-oriented approaches" to law (page 6).
             Despite the current trend to seeing Durkheim, Weber, and Marx as fathers of the same sociological view of the law, the three men did have greatly differing views of sociology and the importance of the individual. Durkheim is often seen as the founder of sociology, and argued that society and law could be studied scientifically. Unlike Durkheim, Weber was often critical of a sociological approach that saw society as real and concrete. Weber argued that sociology began with the in...