WORKSHOP: Advancing Sociolegal Theory

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

This workshop considers the application of the emerging philosophical ideas of "plasticity" to the socio-legal analyses of rapidly changing social orders. Current approaches have proven theoretically insufficient in capturing the forms that law, legality, and legitimacy take in light of rapid changes in society, governance, technology and identity. Within the current approaches, law is treated as dynamic and the activities that engage law successfully are often posited as contingent upon the circumstances in each case. Although theoretical advancement has been made using such models to understand the configuration of social forces and the influence of social practice, much of the value in such theorizing is lost in the inability of current models to simultaneously account for dynamic and contingent sets of practices while remaining generalizable over time and across cases; a situation that is further complicated when considering rapidly changing material conditions. The current workshop tests the application of a new approach that incorporates these elements. It, therefore, holds strong promise for fundamentally advancing current theorizing by initiating new lines of research in socio-legal studies.