Explorations in Law and Society: Toward A Constitutive Theory of Law

Abstract

In Explorations in and Society, Alan Hunt seeks to transform the relationship between law and the other social sciences. One of the foremost theorists of the sociology of law, Hunt has been at the forefront of the Law and Society and Critical Legal Studies movements. In this work, he directs his arguments against the illusion of law as a self-sufficient discipline which involves a lack of intellectual vitality and leads to a narrowly technical legal education. The addition of a measure of social science or philosophy is not enough to compensate for the deficiencies of orthodox legal studies. Much of the sociological work on law has put forth an image of law as the passive reflection of social, economic and political forces. This view of the legal process stands in direct opposition to the legal orthodoxy that law is an autonomous force able to check economic and political power. Hunt provides the approach needed to avoid these polarities. He draws on a range of intellectual resources, including the sociology of law, liberal jurisprudence, Marxism and Foucauldian social theory.

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