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Blind Insights? The Limits of a Reflexive Sociology of Law
Author(s) -
Nelken David
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6478.00098
Subject(s) - reflexivity , allegiance , sociology of law , technocracy , sociology , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , law , set (abstract data type) , political science , social science , politics , philosophy , computer science , linguistics , programming language
Is there a danger that sociological approaches to law end up creating law in their own image? Can they set their own limits? Could they help further rather than hinder the process by which law becomes more technocratic? Continuing a debate with Roger Cotterrell, this paper offers an examination of Cotterrell's suggestion, in the last issue, that these dangers can be avoided provided that sociological interpretation of legal ideas recognizes an allegiance to law rather than to academic sociology. By contrast, I propose a reflexive strategy intended to invite sociology to examine the ways in which its discourses and practices are both similar to but also different from those of law.