A Sociology of Legal Distinctions: Introducing Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Socio‐legal Concepts
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
| Author | Jiří Přibáň |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12046 |
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY
VOLUME 44, ISSUE S1, OCTOBER 2017
ISSN: 0263-323X, pp. S1±S18
A Sociology of Legal Distinctions:
Introducing Contemporary Interpretations of
Classic Socio-legal Concepts
Jir
í|
¨Pr
íiba
¨n
í*
In this introduction to Main Currents in Contemporary Sociology of
Law, I briefly comment on the current state of socio-legal studies and
sociology of law and reasons leading to this collection of essays. I
subsequently focus on some general problems which constantly recur
in different socio-legal contexts, especially on the sociological critique
of legal formalism and the closely related distinctions between internal
and external perspectives of law and legal facts and values. Discussing
these classic distinctions, I argue that they are an intrinsic part of both
legal and sociological interpretations of positive law. Sociology of law,
therefore, cannot resolve theoretical and methodological dilemmas
associated with them, yet it can rethink and reformulate them to better
understand its own position as a social science of positive law in
contemporary society.
The history of sociology of law and socio-legal studies is a remarkable
success story of transforming different contextualizations and criticisms of
general legal science and jurisprudence into mainstream legal thought. This
transformation is typical of g reat variety of interdiscipl inary, multi-
disciplinary, and general cross-culture perspectives of law which open new
possibilities of research and attract scholars from many different fields of
social and political science and the humanities. Studies of the social context
and connections of law to culture, ideology, politics, economics, science,
education, technologies, and other domains of social life are now detectable
in all branches of legal science, from business regulation and legal profes-
sions to transitional justice and constitutional theory.
This success is illuminated by international `law and society' and `socio-
legal' conferences annually attended by thousands of academics from all
S1
*School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, Law Building, Museum
Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales
priban@cardiff.ac.uk
ß2017 The Author. Journal of Law and Society ß2017 Cardiff University Law School
around the world and influential academic journals, such as the Journal of
Law and Society,Law & Society Review,Law & Social Inquiry,Social &
Legal Studies, and other periodicals established in the last five decades. A
number of events exploring the `socio', `legal', `comparative', `anthropo-
logical', and `methodological' aspects of socio-legal studies were organized
in the last decade. Academic publishers, big and small, run successful socio-
legal series and publish a great number of monographs, edited volumes, and
proceedings of special research projects. For instance, the three-volume
Encyclopedia of Law & Society bringing together `American and global
perspectives' was edited by David S. Clark in 2007
1
and the extensive Law
and Society `mini-library' in four volumes was edited by Dave Cowan,
Linda Mulcahy, and Sally Wheeler and published in 2014.
2
Furthermore, the
International Institute for the Sociology of Law in On
Äati, the Basque Country
in Spain, has become a global socio-legal research and teaching hub since its
establishment in 1988 and a number of British academics contribute to its
annual programme. New centres of socio-legal and interdisciplinary legal
studies have recently been set up at different British universities, including
the Centre of Law and Society at Cardiff University. Their focus is distinctly
transnational and global in terms of both academic networks and legal
research.
IS THERE A COMMON GROUND FOR SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
OF LAW?
Despite this huge success of sociology of law and socio-legal studies in the
United Kingdom and elsewhere, some questions, problems, dilemmas, and
even doubts regarding the sociological and social science methodology and
perspective of law, surprisingly keep recurring, even in the current rich and
diverse research.
The whole tradition of sociological exploration of positive law is typical
of a wide range of intellectual traditions, theoretical perspectives, methodo-
logical approaches, and scientific ambitions associated with `sociology of
law', `law and society', `socio-legal studies', `sociological jurisprudence',
`legal sociology', and `social theory of law'.
3
Some of these academic
varieties may be attributed to the difference between common law cultures
favouring a broad label of interdisciplinary and policy-oriented `sociological
jurisprudence' and `socio-legal studies', or a much broader and primarily
social-science-oriented `law and society' movement and civil law culture
S2
1 D.S. Clark (ed.), Encyclopedi a of Law and Society: American and Glo bal
Perspectives, 3 vols. (2007).
2 D. Cowan et al. (eds.), Law and Society, 4 vols. (2014).
3 For recent overviews, see, for instance, A.J. Trevin
Äo, The Sociology of Law: Classic
and Contemporary Perspectives (2008).
ß2017 The Author. Journal of Law and Society ß2017 Cardiff University Law School
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