Black received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1968, and he taught at the law schools of both Yale and Harvard before moving to Virginia in 1985.
More recently, The Social Structure of Right and Wrong extended his theory to address conflict management more broadly, focusing on instances where people handle conflicts through means other than the law, such as through gossip, avoidance, suicide, or feuding.
Black also founded pure sociology, a distinctive theoretical approach that explains human behavior with its social geometry.
Since pure sociology is a general sociological paradigm, it may be applied to subjects other than law, conflict, and conflict management—for example, art,[1] religion,[2] and ideas.
[4] Works relying heavily upon Black's theoretical approach, including his epistemology and his explanatory model.