The articles in the anthology examine both the context within which social action takes place (macro) and the specific actions (micro) taken by police agencies. The anthology is divided into five sections, dealing with the history of police and society, the role of police in society, the society of police, policing society, and the police in postmodern society. Each section is devoted to a critical aspect of the interrelationship between police and society and each begins with an article that provides a unique contribution to the understanding of this complex relationship. The remaining essays in each section attempt to build on these foundations or to fill intellectual voids. The articles often take exception with previous conceptions or even with the assumptions upon which those conceptions are based. Chapter references