Socio-Legal Studies
'Socio-Legal Studies' in the UK has grown mainly out of the interest of law schools in promoting interdisciplinary studies of law. Whether regarded as an emerging discipline, sub-discipline or a methodological approach, it is often viewed in light of its relationship to, and oppositional role within, law. It should not, therefore, be confused with the legal sociology of many West European countries or the Law and Society scholarship in the US, which foster much stronger disciplinary ties with social sciences. In the past, it has been presented as the applied branch of the sociology of law and criticised for being empiricist and atheoretical. Max Travers, for example, regards Socio-Legal Studies as a subfield of social policy, 'mainly concerned with influencing or serving government policy in the provision of legal services' and adds that it "has given up any aspirations it once had to develop general theories about the policy process".
Socio-Legal Methods of Investigation
The sociology of law has no methods of investigation which have been developed specifically for conducting socio-legal research. Instead, it employs a wide variety of social scientific methods, including qualitative and quantitative research techniques, to explore law and legal phenomena. Positivistic as well as interpretive (such as discourse analysis) and ethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis is used within the socio-legal field.
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“These studies which stimulate the young, divert the old, are an ornament in prosperity and a refuge and comfort in adversity; they delight us at home, are no impediment in public life, keep us company at night, in our travels, and whenever we retire to the country.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)