Politics of Southern Equality: Law and Social Change in a Mississippi County. by Frederick M.WirtReview by: Perry H. HowardSocial Forces, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Jun., 1972), p. 541Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2576809 .

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Book Reviews / 541

POLITICS OF SOUTHERN EQUALITY: LAW AND SO-

CIAL CHANGE IN A MISSISSIPPI COUNTY. By Frederick M. Wirt. Chicago: Aldine, 1970. 335 pp. $10.00.

Reviewed by PERRY H. HOWARD, Louisiana State Un iversity

This book examines the link between law and social changes, fixing on the Civil Rights Acts from 1957 to 1965, and investigating the degree of compliance in voting, school integration, and job discrimination in Panola County, Mississippi, through a careful case study. From his study, the author makes inferences about why and how com- pliance occurred and provides us with what he considers the theoretical implications of his study. He had found remarkably little research on the exact nature of the relationship between law and social change, a circumstance he hoped to correct.

A sketch of Panola County's history is followed by a survey of the pertinent voting legislation (the impact of which is investigated in Panola). After examining the enforcement of these voting laws, Wirt discusses their influence on black and white politics, and their implications for black political strategy in the future. Finally, after touching on the issues of law and opportunity, educational and economic, the author returns to the basic question: "Can we specify the conditions which enhance or limit compliance with Civil Rights law, thereby devising the conditions which maximize the chances of law creating social change?"

Wirt then signalizes the factors affecting such laws' effectiveness in four words: Regulation, Reg- ulator, Regulatee, and Regulated. That is to say, the law's ability to effect social change depends on the nature of the regulation (its content), on enforcement processes and personnel, on the re- sources and support of those whom the law seeks to benefit and, finally, on the resources and re- sistance of those whose behavior the law seeks to change.

To be effective, the law must clearly identify the value it is reinforcing while providing, at the same time, sanctions and methods of enforcement. Again, to effect change, attributes of the regulator are critical-in this case, presidential commitment, his interpretation of the law, willingness to en- force, and preferred strategies, all obviously inter- linked. As to the characteristics of the regulated, a variable significant in affecting resistance is the social and economic structure of the community. (Yet regardless of community characteristics, where the federal registrar went in, more blacks registered in proportion to whites than in counties without federal intervention.) Wirt finds that compliance among the regulated was achieved despite intense verbal opposition, most likely because the alterna- tives were more costly than Panolians were willing to pay. As to the regulatee, federal officials judged that their work was done most easily when strong

leaders emerged among local Negroes to mobilize local support.

Evaluating his model of compliance and social change, Wirt finds no single pattern of interaction, no single combination among the four factors which best explains civil rights compliance. They are clearly interdependent.

Considered against the background of Professor James Silver's Mississippi: The Closed Society and the well-publicized violence exercised in the state's resistance in the past decade, the change which civil rights laws brought about in the daily lives of the citizens of Panola County is truly remark- able. In well-written detail, the author traces out the impact of these changes on the local level and draws a clear lesson from his investigation, con- cluding: "in civil rights matters, southerners move very little toward the goals of equality unless un- der direct federal pressures which threaten specific, injurious sanctions." But people all over this coun- try may exhibit similar inertia.

THE NIGERIAN MILITARY: A SOCIOLOGICAL

ANALYSIS OF AUTHORITY AND REVOLT 1960- 67. By Robin Luckham. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press, 1971. 376 pp. $18.50.

Reviewed by SCOTT G. MC NALL, Arizona State University

This is an important book in the field of mili- tary sociology, containing a wealth of data rele- vant to the comparative study of military orga- nizations, the conditions under which coups occur, how military organizations operate when they as- sume control in a country, and the role of the military in developing countries. The book presents information that is invaluable for understanding the circumstances that led to the tragic clash be- tween Biafra and the Federal forces of Nigeria, well documented, when documentation was very difficult because of the war.

Luckham is familiar with the Nigerian scene, having taught in a Nigerian university. He com- bines historical data, statistical data, and observa- tion to analyze the coups of January 1966, July 1966, and the civil war which followed in July 1967. Part One is a detailed analysis of the two coups. The first, conducted by the Majors, is seen as an attempt to destroy the political dominance of the North, and end what was regarded as politi- cal corruption and the inability of the political institutions to deal with growing disorder. As Luckham points out, there is no reason to suspect that the January coup was an Ibo "plot" to take control of the government. But a set of unfor- tunate circumstances permitted that conclusion to be drawn by those who opposed the Majors. Of those who participated in the coup, almost all were Ibos, and none of the conspirators was from the North. Further, Ibo officers were direct bene-

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