Scenario: Reconstruction: Eric Foner
When historians study the history of laws/legal process, it is often debatable whether laws changes as a reaction to social and cultural change or act as catalysts for social-cultural change. In "The Peculiar Institution," Foner gives an overview of legal change that relates to slavery and racism. " Race" - the idea that humanity is divided into well-defined groups associated with skin color - is a modern concept that had not fully developed in the seventeenth century. Nor had "racism" - an ideology based on the belief that some races are inherently superior to others and entitled to rule over them."
What would he say about the relationship between law and culture, in this contexts? Do you agree?