Research Paper Number

11/2009

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Keywords

abandonment; corporate sponsorship; knowledge; legal effectiveness; legal sociology; solitude; theory of the state

Abstract

Legal sociology is in a crisis - or so it is said. The field is not widely represented at Law Faculties today and, the claim goes, is in dire need of a new spirit. Meanwhile, scholars who are working in the area cover a wide array of research questions, ranging from criminology to family law, from urban governance to transitional justice, illustrating thus a fine sensitivity for important and fast evolving areas. This paper argues that indeed our times offer a great host of promising opportunities for legal sociological research. In midst of a truly dramatic economic crisis where anchoring points and orientations have been upset, a broad search for adequate regulatory responses is underway. In this climate of reassessing the lessons of reflexive and responsive law, of legal pluralism and 'law & society' with view to their re-invigoration for our times, legal sociology is itself seemingly undergoing a transformation of its own: today's research methodology must pay heed to the advances made since Weber, Durkheim, Ehrlich and Gurvitch and translate them into a distinctly cross-disciplinary context, comparative and transnational context.

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