Reza Banakar | Lund University (original) (raw)

Papers by Reza Banakar

This chapter will begin with a brief discussion of early modernity and the rise of the welfare st... more This chapter will begin with a brief discussion of early modernity and the rise of the welfare state, before going on to explore how law and legal regulation change as we enter “late modernity”. The notion of “late modernity” – not to be confused with postmodernity – captures how industrially advanced societies evolve, when globalisation, aided by information technology, accelerates rapidly at the end of the twentieth century. Globalisation speeds up the movement of capital, information, goods, services, people, images and ideas across the globe, thus, dislodging social and cultural norms from their context in time and space. It shifts social and cultural boundaries, enhancing “reflexivity” and social disembeddedness of individuals and collectivises, giving rise to pluralities of values, norms and laws, on the one hand, and to uncertainties, anxieties and “ontological insecurities,” on the other. Enhanced reflexivity – the constant awareness of existing alternative choices, moral standards and modes of action brought on by the consequences of globalisation – offers new possibilities as the agency increasingly frees itself from the normative constraints of institutions. Fuelled by a ubiquitous culture of consumerism and facilitated by digital technology, this heightened reflexivity helps to advance hyper-individualism across society, emphasising individual rights divorced from their corresponding responsibilities and concerns with collective “social good”. This, in turn, destabilises social relations and structures which previously gave a sense of cohesion, permanence and continuity to modernity. What does hold society together and what is the role of law and regulation under the liquid conditions of late modernity? These are among the questions that will guide us through this chapter.

Keywords: Law, regulation, globalisation, late modernity, industrialisation, materiality, digitalisation, consemurism

Canadian journal of law and society, 2001

This paper suggests that many of Gurvitch's ideas, which were originally presented in an abstract... more This paper suggests that many of Gurvitch's ideas, which were originally presented in an abstract fashion, are still highly pertinent to socio-legal analysis. They may be employed in empirical research in a revised form, which would make them receptive to operationalisation. To this end, I shall focus on some of the main theoretical ideas developed by Gurvitch, reinterpreting them critically and in the context of the socio-legal research of the last few decades. Then, I shall apply them to empirical data collected through various studies. The question prompting this examination is whether Gurvitch's theoretical insights could enhance our understanding of such data and thus open new avenues of socio-legal enquiry.

Normativity in Legal Sociology, 2014

ABSTRACT This paper challenges the assumption that legal sociology should apply itself to the ext... more ABSTRACT This paper challenges the assumption that legal sociology should apply itself to the external or factual properties of the law and leave the internal and normative aspects of legal phenomena to doctrinal scholars and moral philosophers. It argues that legal sociology explores the normative contexts of the law and other social systems, but being restricted by its “scientific” mode of expression it describes and analyses them in sociological rather than moral terms. Legal sociology is, and should be seen as, a different language game than moral and legal philosophy, and its treatment of normativity should be understood on its own terms. The assertion that legal sociology should limit its scope of analysis to the study of the empirical aspects of law and leave the study of law’s normative dimensions to other branches of legal studies is itself a normative supposition and part of the competing discourses which constitute the field of legal research. These discourses aim at demarcating the disciplinary boundaries between various epistemic approaches to the study of law and creating disciplinary identities rather than exploring the methodological scope of socio-legal research.Part One starts by briefly considering the relationship between norms and normativity, arguing that normativity is generated by system as well as lifeworld and is not necessarily reducible to the effects or functions of individual norms. Part Two develops this point by making a case for justice as law’s source of normativity par excellence. It maintains that although the relationship between law and justice is often discussed in terms of norms, the normativity that justice exercises on law is dependent on the broader context of the legal system, which is defined differently by different theories. Part Three draws attention to the methodological constraints of socio-legal research, according to which social scientific studies of law should apply themselves to the external empirical or factual properties of the relationship between law and society and leave the internal and normative matters to doctrinal scholars and moral philosophers, respectively. The paper concludes by arguing that the sphere of socio-legal research is not, and cannot be, limited to an examination of the factual characteristics of law. Moreover, the assertion that legal sociology should apply itself to the study of the empirical aspects of law and leave the normative dimensions to other legal scholars is a normative stance and part of on-going attempts at demarcating the disciplinary boundaries of various branches of legal studies.

"Socio-legal researchers increasingly recognise the need to employ a wide variety of methods... more "Socio-legal researchers increasingly recognise the need to employ a wide variety of methods in studying law and legal phenomena, and the need to be informed by an understanding of debates about theory and method in mainstream social science. The papers in this volume illustrate how a range of topics, including EU law, ombudsman, judges, lawyers, Shariah Councils and the quality assurance industry can be researched from a socio-legal perspective. The objective of the collection is to show how different methods can be used in researching law and legal phenomena, how methodological issues and debates in sociology are relevant to the study of law, and the importance of the debate between "structural" and "action" traditions in researching law. It also approaches the methodological problem of how the sociology of law can address the content of legal practice from a variety of perspectives and discusses the relationship between pure and applied research. The editors provide a critical introduction to each of the six sections, and a general introduction on law, sociology and method. The collection will provide an invaluable resource for socio-legal researchers, law school researchers and postgraduates. Keywords: Law, sociology, method, methodology, positivism, structuralism, action theory, ethnomethodology, systems theory, autopoiesis, interpretive methods, discourse analysis, legal cultures, globalisation, socio-legal research, social theory, legal theory. "

The field of socio-legal research has encountered three foundational challenges over the last thr... more The field of socio-legal research has encountered three foundational challenges over the last three decades – it has been criticised for paying insufficient attention to legal doctrine, for failing to develop a sound theoretical foundation and for not keeping pace with the effects of the increasing globalisation and internationalisation of law, state and society. This book engages with these three challenges from a methodological standpoint. It addresses the first two challenges by demonstrating that legal sociology has much to say about justice as a kind of social experience and it has always engaged theoretically with forms of normativity, albeit on its own empirical terms rather than on legal theory’s analytical terms. It explores the third challenge, which was posed by the changing nature of society, by highlighting the move from the industrial relations of early modernity to the post-industrial conditions of late modernity dominated by information technology. It asks if socio-legal research has sufficiently reconsidered its theoretical premises regarding the relationship between law, state and society, to grasp the new social and cultural forms of organisation specific to the twenty-first century’s global societies.

ABSTRACT Many of the original sociological premises, concepts and ideas regarding social action, ... more ABSTRACT Many of the original sociological premises, concepts and ideas regarding social action, legal change and social reform were initially formulated by studying conditions specific to Western industrial societies. The socio-cultural consequences of globalisation over the last three decades have, however, affected the relationship between state, law and society, blurred sharply drawn distinctions between the West and the rest of the world and transformed the socio-cultural setting within which legal regulation is devised and social reform planned. This paper asks to what extent socio-legal research has reconsidered its theoretical premises regarding the relationship between law, state and society to grasp the new social and cultural forms of organisation specific to global societies of the 21st century. This objective is pursued in four parts. Part One sketches the intellectual origins of SL and describes its scope and paradigmatic openness. Part Two presents SL partly in relation to social sciences and partly in relation to law and legal studies, briefly examining some of the central debates within the field. Part Three draws attention to the asynchronous development of SL across various countries, asking why the main body of socio-legal research continues to be produced in Western countries. This part considers various factors which might cause this imbalance and also asks if socio-legal theories that are born out of studies of Western industrialised societies are suitable for examining law and social order in non-Western contexts. Part Four concludes the paper by arguing that the socio-cultural consequences of globalisation erode the traditional boundaries of law and legal systems, hybridise legal cultures and create new conditions for legal regulation.

... discourse. This book consists of three parts. Part One examines the disciplinary contours of ... more ... discourse. This book consists of three parts. Part One examines the disciplinary contours of socio-legal discourse searching for a method which can take us beyond the misleading dichotomies of the socio-legal field. Part Two ...

Law and its countless legal, academic, professional and institutional manifestations, all being i... more Law and its countless legal, academic, professional and institutional manifestations, all being intrinsically social, fall within the scope of sociological inquiry. It is, therefore, not surprising if some sociologists and jurists have tried to bring the benefits of sociological ideas to legal thought and practice. Introducing sociological insights into law, a feasible and useful project in theory, has however been only marginally accomplished in practice. Despite the social make-up of law and the kinship between legal theory and social theory, the former being a branch of the latter, and despite the efforts of sociolegal scholars over the past hundred years to integrate legal and sociological ideas, law and sociology remain apart.

International Journal of Law in Context, 2011

In Law in Modern Society, Denis Galligan argues that adopting a social scientific perspective, wh... more In Law in Modern Society, Denis Galligan argues that adopting a social scientific perspective, which describes and analyses the law in extra-legal terms, can easily entail losing sight of the law as a distinct social formation. To avoid this pitfall, sociolegal research should contextualise those features of the legal system which are relevant to the actions of citizens and officials of the law. This essay argues that since the "relevant" features described by Galligan are, ultimately, related to legal rules, his approach amounts to a top-down method of contextualising the impact of the law on society and as such loses sight of law's fluidity and societal embeddedness. Using Galligan's methodology as its backdrop, this essay sketches the contours of three ideal typical approaches to the contextualisation of law. The first approach examines how social institutions absorb law within their existing networks of rules and relations; the second reverses law's method of dislodging actions from their socio-historical context; and the third uncovers the socio-cultural and historical embeddedness of the legal system. This paper concludes by arguing that these three approaches reverse the de-contextualising effects of modern Western law in different ways and degrees. Scholars who employ the second and the third approaches often do so as part of their search for alternative forms of law and legality. What is identified by Galligan as losing sight of the distinctiveness of the law should, in their case, be explored in light of the ongoing struggle for law, rather than as the failure of social sciences to account for the specificity of positive law.

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2012

Iran has the highest rate of road traffic accidents (RTAs) worldwide. Iranian studies of the grow... more Iran has the highest rate of road traffic accidents (RTAs) worldwide. Iranian studies of the growing levels of RTAs are often conducted by medical doctors, who view them in light of the increase in the production and ownership of cars and the changed lifestyle of many Iranians, and discuss them in terms of pathology, morbidity and epidemiology. This paper argues that although the high levels of RTAs in Iran are new and reflective of the changing character of Iranian society, the habit of reckless driving is not. Using open and semi-structured interviews, it explores how Iranians describe their driving habits and experience RTAs. Placing the results of the interviews in the historical context of Iranian society, the paper goes on to examine driving as a form of behaviour with legal and cultural dimensions indicative of how Iranians interact with each other and with the normative structures of the legal system, the state and society to create a form of social order. Being mediated through the use of automobile, driving habits also throw light on how Iranians relate themselves to an aspect of modern technology. Thus, this study will treat Iranians' driving habits as an empirical manifestation of one aspect of their legal culture, which is mediated through the technology of the automobile.

Law & Society Review, 2007

Social & Legal Studies, 1998

Journal of Law and Society, 2000

The general focus of this paper is on the methodological limitations of the sociology of law in c... more The general focus of this paper is on the methodological limitations of the sociology of law in capturing the law's ‘truth’ as its practitioners experience it. The paper starts with arguing that the law does not have a monolithic ‘truth’. Some aspects of its ‘truth’ are produced through its own recursively sealed operations, while its other aspects are generated with reference to empirically grounded knowledge, which potentially links the discourses of law and sociology. Notwithstanding this discursive kinship, the sociological studies of the law's internal processes cause difficulties even to those scholars who are versed in substantive law. To expound this problem, the sociology of law is compared with medical sociology and attention is drawn to the way sociology copes with the ‘truth’ of medicine. The final part of the paper initiates a quest for possible solutions to the methodological problems of the sociology of law by placing them in the context of the ongoing conflicts and competitions of the field of science.

International Journal of Law in Context, 2009

This review essay draws on a recently edited handbook by Esin Örücü and David Nelken to reflect o... more This review essay draws on a recently edited handbook by Esin Örücü and David Nelken to reflect on the methodological concerns and challenges of comparative law and socio-legal research. It argues that the contextualisation of laws should be regarded as the indispensable methodological characteristic of all comparative studies of law that aspire to transcend the understanding of law as a body of rules and doctrine. It further argues that although the cultural perspective facilitates contextualisation of the law, a cultural understanding is neither a precondition for undertaking comparative legal research nor necessarily the correct approach under all circumstances; for certain aspects of law and legal behaviour need not be conceptualised in cultural terms. The essay concludes by proposing that the combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches could provide a metamethodological framework within which specific comparative techniques can be employed. Such a framework will enable comparatists and socio-legal researchers to account for how law interacts with, and simultaneously manifests itself at, the macro, micro and the intermediary meso levels of society over time.