Communities of scholars and communities of practice
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12276 |
Published date | 01 March 2021 |
Date | 01 March 2021 |
DOI: ./j ols.
ARTICLE
Communities of scholars and communities
of practice
LYNN MATHER
University at Buffalo School of Law, John
Lord O’Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY
-, USA
Correspondingauthor
LynnMather, University at Buffalo School
ofLaw, John Lord O’Brian Hall, Buffalo,
NY-, USA
Author’smail address: Basin Front
Drive,Newbury, MA , USA
Email:lmather@buffalo.edu
Abstract
This article is a contribution to the occasional series
dealing with a major book that has influenced the
author.Previous contributors include Stewart Macaulay,
John Griffith, William Twining, Carol Harlow,
Geoffrey Bindman, Harry Arthurs, André-Jean Arnaud,
Alan Hunt, Michael Adler, Lawrence O. Gostin, John
P. Heinz, Roger Brownsword, Roger Cotterrell, Nicola
Lacey, Carol J. Greenhouse, David Garland, Peter
Fitzpatrick, and David Nelken.
1 AN UNUSUAL CHOICE
After contemplating this article for months, my list of candidates for an influential book got longer
rather than shorter. I then zeroed in on one book that socio-legal readers will see as a rather
bizarre, unusual choice. Nevertheless, please bear with me as I explain how it indirectly affected
my thinking, especially early on. A book on the history and philosophy of science, focusing
primarily on physics, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn became a sen-
sation worldwide.Kuhn’s book – hereafter, Structure – has sold well over a million copies and
has been translated into over languages.The publisher’s blurb for the book’sth anniversary
edition asserts:
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great
book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the
pointthatwetakeitforgranted,andweforgethowprovocativeandchallengingits
© The Author.Journal of Law and Society © Cardiff University Law School
T. Kuhn,The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ().
Email (, November) from Charles T. Myers, Executive Editor at the University of Chicago Press, publisher of all
four editions of Kuhn’s book.
J. Law Soc. ;:–. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jols 25
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