Law as Symbol & Modern JurisprudenceThe Dialectics of Legal Repression: Black Rebels before the American Criminal Courts. By Isaac D. Balbus Taking Rights Seriously. By Ronald Dworkin The Practice of Rights. By Richard Flathman The Politics of Rights: Lawyers, Public Policy, and Political Change. By Stuart A. Scheingold Law in Modern Society: Toward a Criticism of Social Theory. By Roberto M. Unger

Polity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-490
Author(s):  
John Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Ronald Dworkin

The Vision of Foundations of Social Theory

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Theory Of Action ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Trust Law

AbstractModern society has undergone a fundamental change to a society built around purposively established organizations. Social theory in this context can be a guide to social construction. Foundations of Social Theory is dedicated to this aim. Being oriented towards the design of social institutions it has to choose a voluntaristic, purposive theory of action and must make the behavior of social systems explainable in terms of the combination of individual actions. It has to deal with the emergence and maintenance of norms and rights, the concepts of authority, trust, law and legitimacy, the viability of organizations and the efficiency of social systems. But more important than the specific points is the vision of a new role for social theory in an increasingly constructed social environment. This vision is the motivation behind Foundations of Social Theory.

Imagination and Art

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Swedberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the role of imagination and the arts in helping social scientists to theorize well. However deep one's basic knowledge of social theory is, and however many concepts, mechanisms, and theories one knows, unless this knowledge is used in an imaginative way, the result will be dull and noncreative. A good research topic should among other things operate as an analogon—that is, it should be able to set off the theoretical imagination of the social scientist. Then, when a social scientist writes, he or she may want to write in such a way that the reader's theoretical imagination is stirred. Besides imagination, the chapter also discusses the relationship of social theory to art. There are a number of reason for this, including the fact that in modern society, art is perceived as the height of imagination and creativity.

Public Interest and Public Policy in Private Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 304-332
Author(s):  
John Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
The Way

This chapter first considers the thoughts of Ronald Dworkin, who sparked the contemporary fashion, among lawyers and legal theorists, for contrasting ‘arguments of principle’ with ‘arguments of policy’. Dworkin did not regard the two categories of argument as jointly exhaustive, even in the special setting of the courtroom. But he did regard them as mutually exclusive. The chapter also discusses the way in which the courts cannot responsibly avoid counting the consequences of their decisions, or at least some of the consequences of their decisions, for the decisions of future courts. This is followed by a discussion of legal instrumentalism.

A Social Theory of Constitutional Imaginaries

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Jiří Přibáň
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Law And Politics

This chapter focuses on the concept of constitutional imaginaries and their classic legitimation semantics of topos-ethnos-nomos. Constitutional imaginaries are considered internal symbolic constructs of self-constituted positive law and politics which make it possible to describe functionally differentiated modern society as one polity and distinguish between legal and political legitimacies and illegitimacies in this polity. They are not limited by the unity of topos-ethnos-nomos and evolve in national as well as supranational and transnational constitutions. In the context of European constitutionalism, general imaginaries of common market, universal rights, and democratic power are thus accompanied by specific imaginaries of European integration through economic performativity, social engineering, legal pluralism, and political mobilization. These imaginaries show that political constitutions include a poietic societal force impossible to contain by autopoietic legal norms and political institutions.

A Discussion of Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels' Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Sabl
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Folk Theory ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rational Voter ◽  
Rational Preferences ◽  
Theory Of Democracy ◽  
The U.S

Liberal democracy is often viewed by its supporters as a system of government that responds to the informed and rational preferences of the public organized as voters. And liberal democracy is often viewed by its critics as a system that fails to respond to the informed and rational preferences of its citizens. In this book Larry Bartels and Chris Achen draw on decades of research to argue that a “realistic” conception of democracy cannot be centered on the idea of a “rational voter,” and that the ills of contemporary democracies, and especially democracy in the U.S., must be sought in the dynamics that link voters, political parties and public policy in ways that reproduce inequality. “We believe,” write the authors, “that abandoning the folk theory of democracy is a prerequisite to both greater intellectual clarity and real political change. Too many democratic reformers have squandered their energy on misguided or quixotic ideas.”

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