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Invoking Indignation: Reflections on Future Directions of Socio–legal Studies
Author(s) -
Hillyard Paddy
Publication year - 2002
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 - 10.1111/1467-6478.00237
Subject(s) - indignation , sociology , argument (complex analysis) , power (physics) , neglect , law and economics , deconstruction (building) , law , political science , epistemology , politics , psychology , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , biology
The Research Assessment Exercise has produced some very unequal results. Lawyers are now three times more likely to be in grade 5 or 5* departments than social policy colleagues. The paper begins with a light–hearted theoretical explanation of these results to make the serious point that an old fashioned notion of power and a simple analysis of the available data can produce important insights into what is happening in the real world – a research paradigm which the RAE has discouraged. The paper then makes a number of criticisms of current theoretical endeavours in sociolegal studies: the confusion over what is meant by theory, its fixation on deconstruction and a Foucauldian notion of power, and the neglect of universal categories. The central argument is that sociolegal studies needs to focus more on the materiality of everyday life and, in particular, the growing inequalities in the world and the role that law and legal institutions play in the structuring of these inequalities. In conclusion, the paper argues that as sociolegal scholars we need to analyse the impact of our decisions on others and to take a stand against unfair and unjust distribution of resources whether at the local, national or international level. We need a vision of a just society which is informed by moral indignation.