The article discusses the potential for the field of sociology of law (SoL) to complement legal science in studying the law and as a science of its own. SoL and legal science study two different realities of law: one based on internal operations, practices, concepts, and perceptions, the other focusing on law's interaction with its societal environment. The knowledge interest of SoL is the background or genesis of law and the functions and consequences of legal regulation. The article argues that instead of integrating SoL and legal dogmatic, SoL could fill gaps that legal dogmatic leaves behind due to epistemological shortcomings in explaining legal practice. The article emphasizes that law is not one indivisible entity which is the tendency in most SoL. It consists of different types of legal norms all with their own characteristics. The article introduces the concept of intervening law, which regulates labor, environment, consumers, and the like in relation to protections of different kinds. Intervening regulation indicates a transitional society and heralds the need for a new societal formation. Finally, the article introduces and points out Norm science as a complement to social sciences putting forward motives as explanatory of human behavior. Another advantage is that Norm science acts as a synthesizing tool affording interdisciplinarity.
| Published in | International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 8, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14 |
| Page(s) | 103-120 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Sociology of Law, Norm Science, Functions of Law, Legal Regulation of AI, The Genesis of Law, Legal Development, Norms, Interdisciplinarity
| [1] | Abel, Richard L., Hammerslev, Ole, Sommerlad, Hilary & Schultz, Ulrike (red.) (2020). Lawyers in 21st-century societies Volume 1 National reports. Oxford: Hart. |
| [2] | Aspelin, Gunnar (1955). Tankelinjer och trosformer: huvudriktningar i vår tids idéhistoria. Stockholm: Bonnier. |
| [3] | Aubert, Vilhelm (1976). Rettens sosiale funksjon. (The Social Functions of law) Oslo: Univ.-forl. |
| [4] | Banakar, Reza, (1998) The Identity Crisis of a “Stepchild”. Reflections on the Paradigmatic Deficiences of Sociology of law, in Retfaerd Nr- 81, 21 Årgång 1998, |
| [5] | Banakar, Reza, (2001) A Passage to “India”. Toward a Transformative Interdisciplinary Discourse on Law and Society, in Retfaerd Nr. 92, 24, Årgång 2001. |
| [6] | Banakar, Reza (2003), Merging Law and Sociology. Beyond the Dichotomies in Socio-Legal Research. Berlin: Wilsch Verlag. |
| [7] | Barnett, V. (2016). Kondratiev and the dynamics of economic development: long cycles and industrial growth in historical context. New York: Springer. |
| [8] | Beck, Ulrich (1997). The reinvention of politics: rethinking modernity in the global social order. Cambridge: Polity Press. |
| [9] | Beck, Ulrich (2000). What is globalization?. Malden, Mont.: Polity Press. |
| [10] | Bozdag, Engin Bias in Algorithmic Filtering and Personalization, 15 Ethics & Info. Tech. 209–227 (2013). |
| [11] | Braudel, Fernand (1982). Civilization and capitalism: 15th- 18th century. Vol. 2, The wheels of commerce. London: Collins. |
| [12] | Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas (2023). I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique (Harvard Business Review Press, February 2023). |
| [13] | Christensen, Anna, (1980) Avstängning från arbetslöshetsersättning, (Suspension from unemployment benefits) Lund: Norstedts förlag, |
| [14] | Collins, Mark J. (2010). Office 2010 Workflow [Elektronisk resurs] Developing Collaborative Solutions. Berkeley, CA: Apress. |
| [15] | Dahlman, Christian., Stein, Alex & Tuzet, Giovanni (2021). Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law [Elektronisk resurs]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated. |
| [16] | de Kaminski, Marcin, Svensson, Måns, Larsson, Stefan, Alkan Olsson, Johanna, Rönkkö, Kari, Studying norms and social change in a digital age, 2013, in Baier, M. (ed.) Social and Legal Norms. London: Ashgate. |
| [17] | Diesen, Christian (2005). Likhet inför lagen. Stockholm: Natur och kultur. |
| [18] | Durkheim, Emile. (1984). The Division of Labour in Society. London. |
| [19] | Durkheim, Émile (2014). The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its method. Free Press trade paperback edition. New York: Free Press. |
| [20] | Ehrlich, Eugen (2002 [1936]). Fundamental principles of the sociology of law. [New ed.] New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. |
| [21] | Ellul, Jaques, The Technological Society (1964), New York: Vintage House. |
| [22] | Eugen Ehrlich's sociology of law / edited by Knut Papendorf, Stefan Machura, Anne Hellum. – 2014 [2014]. |
| [23] | Ewerman, Anders & Hydén, Håkan (1997), IT & SOCIAL FÖRÄNDRING, (IT & SOCIAL CHANGE), Byggforsk, |
| [24] | Ewerman, Anders. (1996). Marknaden 1000 år_– Fem eror i Europa [The market 1000 –year five eras in Europe ]. Stockholm: Ewerman Business Intelligence. |
| [25] | Friedman, Lawrence M. (1986), Stanford Law Review, pp. 763-780. |
| [26] | Jean Gimpel, The medieval machine: The industrial revolution of the Middle Ages (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976). |
| [27] | Granhag, Pär Anders, Strömwall, Leif A., Ask, Karl & Landström, Sara (red.) (2021). Handbok i rättspsykologi. Andra upplagan Stockholm: Liber; |
| [28] | Griffiths, John (2017) What is sociology of law? (On law, rules, social control and sociology), The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 49: 2, 93-142, |
| [29] | Hetzler, Antoinette (1978). I behov av vård?: hur lagen om sluten psykiatrisk vård tillämpas. (In need of care: how the law on inpatient psychiatric care is applied.) Stockholm: AWE/Geber. |
| [30] | Hydén, Håkan, (1978), Rättens samhälleliga funktioner (The Societal functions of Law), Lund: Studentlitteratur. |
| [31] | Hydén, Håkan. (2002). Rättssociologi som rättsvetenskap. Lund: Sociologiska institutionen. Lund studies in Sociology of Law 3. |
| [32] | Hydén, Håkan, Using Law as a Model. Different Approaches to the understanding of normative decision making in Contributions in Sociology of Law: remarks from a Swedish Horizon (Eds. H Hydén & P Wickenberg). Lund Studies in Sociology of Law; 29. Lund: Sociology of Law, Lund University. 2008. |
| [33] | Hydén, Håkan, (2020) Sociology of digital law and artificial intelligences, in Jiri Priban (ed.) RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF LAW, Cheltanhem: Edward Elgar. |
| [34] | Hydén, Håkan, (2021), Regulation of AI: Problems and Options, ch. 13 in Liane Colonna Stanley Greenstein (eds.) Law in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, Nordic Yearbook 2020-2021. |
| [35] | Hydén, Håkan, Corona-Socio-Legal Challenge with Sweden as an Example. Nov Res Sci. 10(2). (2022a) Crimson Publishers. |
| [36] | Hydén, Håkan, Sociology of Law as the Science of Norms, (2022b) Oxfordshire: Routledge Publ. |
| [37] | Hydén, Håkan & Hydén, Therese (2024). Rättsregler: en introduktion till juridiken. Nionde upplagan Lund: Studentlitteratur. Forthcoming. |
| [38] | Koulu, R., Peters, A., & Pohle, (2021), J., Finding design patterns in law: An exploratory approach, Working paper, |
| [39] | Krauss, Daniel (2015). The psychology of law: human behavior, legal institutions, and law. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association. |
| [40] | Lernestedt, Claes (2015). Likhet inför lagen: rättsfilosofiska perspektiv. 1. uppl. Stockholm: Norstedts juridik. |
| [41] | Luhmann, Niklas (1995). Social systems. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. |
| [42] | Lundberg, Anna (2021) What Should We Do as Intellectual Activists? A Comment on the Ethico-political in Knowledge Production in Marie Sandberg, Luca Rossi, Vasilis Galis, Martin Bak Jørgensen (eds), Research Methodologies and Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Studies. Caring For (Big) Data? Open Access. |
| [43] | Macaulay, Stewart (1963), Non-contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study, American Sociological Review 28; 55–67. |
| [44] | Marx, Karl & Engels, Friedrich (1985). Collected works Volume 21 Marx and Engels: 1867-70. London: Lawrence & Wishart. |
| [45] | Modéer, Kjell Å. & Sunnqvist, Martin (red.) (2010). 1968 och därefter: de kritiska rättsteoriernas betydelse för nordisk rättsvetenskap. København: Museum Tusculanum. |
| [46] | Nelken, David, (2009) Beyond law in context: developing a sociological understanding of law. Farnham: Ashgate. |
| [47] | Nonet, Philippe och Selznick, Philip (1978). Law and Society in Transition. Toward Responsive Law. New York. |
| [48] | Nääv, Maria & Zamboni, Mauro (red.) (2018). Juridisk metodlära. Andra upplagan Lund: Studentlitteratur. |
| [49] | Olsson, Erik (red.) (2000). Etnicitetens gränser och mångfald. Stockholm: Carlsson. |
| [50] | Pariser, Eli (2011). The filter bubble: what the Internet is hiding from you. London: Viking. Corpus ID: 108992766. |
| [51] | Parsa, Amin & Selberg, Niklas (2022), Future Directions of sociology of law – Anna Lundberg and Ole Hammerslev in conversation with Amin Parsa and Niklas Selberg, Retfaerd 45, Årgång 2022 nr. 4/174. |
| [52] | Peczenik, Aleksander (2008). On law and reason. [2. ed.] New York: Springer. |
| [53] | Pound, Roscoe (1910), Law in Books and Law in Action, 44 American Law Review 12. |
| [54] | Rolf, Bertil (1991). Profession, tradition och tyst kunskap: en studie i Michael Polanyis teori om den professionella kunskapens tysta dimension. Nora: Nya Doxa. |
| [55] | Rossi1, Arianna, Rossana Ducato, Helena Haapio, Stefania Passera, Monica Palmirani, LEGAL DESIGN PATTERNS TOWARDS A NEW LANGUAGE FOR LEGAL INFORMATION DESIGN, First published in JUSLetter IT "Internet of Things – Digital Edition of Proceedings of the 22nd International Legal Informatics Symposium 2019", 21st February 2019. |
| [56] | Sanderson, Stephen K. (1999). Social transformations: a general theory of historical development. Expanded ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. |
| [57] | Schultz & Shaw (2003). Women in the World's Legal Professions (Oñati international series in law and society) [Elektronisk resurs]. 1 Hart Publishing Limited. |
| [58] | Sousa Santos, Boaventura de. (1995). Towards a New Common Sense. New York: Routledge. |
| [59] | Stjernquist, Per (1976 [1973]). Laws in the forests: a study of public direction of Swedish private forestry. [Ny tr.] Lund: LiberLäromedel/Gleerup. |
| [60] | Sutherland, Edwin Hardin, Cressey, Donald R. & Luckenbill, David. (1992). Principles of criminology. 11. ed. Dix Hills, N. Y.: General Hall. |
| [61] | Sutton, John R. (2001). Law / society: origins, interactions and change. London: SAGE. |
| [62] | Svenaeus, Fredrik. (2019). Det naturliga: en kritik av queerteorin, transhumanismen och det digitala livet. Möklinta: Gidlunds förlag. |
| [63] |
Svenaeus, Lena (2017). Konsten att upprätthålla löneskillnader mellan kvinnor och män: en rättssociologisk studie av regler i lag och avtal om lika lön. Diss. Lund: Lunds universitet, 2015. Tillgänglig på Internet:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/30d328dc-8bf2-4716-a78e-d04fc5b40990 |
| [64] | Teubner, Günther. (1983). Substantive and Reflexive Elements in Modern Law. I Law and Society Review 1983: 2. |
| [65] | Therborn, Göran. (1993). Normens vägar och frågetecken. I Sociologisk forskning 1993 nr 2. |
| [66] | Tuori, Kaarlo, (2002), Critical Legal Positivism, London: Routledge, |
| [67] | Tuori, Kaarlo (2021). Properties of law: modern law and after. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
| [68] | Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice. (2004). World-systems analysis: an introduction. Durham: Duke University Press. |
| [69] | Weber, Max, (2009). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism: with other writings on the rise of the West, 4. ed., Oxford University Press, New York. |
| [70] | Widerberg, Karin (1995). Kunskapens kön: minnen, reflektioner och teori. Stockholm: Norstedt. |
APA Style
Hydén, H. (2025). Beyond Theoretical Postulates: Concretizing the Field of Sociology of Law. International Journal of Law and Society, 8(2), 103-120. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14
ACS Style
Hydén, H. Beyond Theoretical Postulates: Concretizing the Field of Sociology of Law. Int. J. Law Soc. 2025, 8(2), 103-120. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14,
author = {Håkan Hydén},
title = {Beyond Theoretical Postulates: Concretizing the Field of Sociology of Law
},
journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
volume = {8},
number = {2},
pages = {103-120},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20250802.14},
abstract = {The article discusses the potential for the field of sociology of law (SoL) to complement legal science in studying the law and as a science of its own. SoL and legal science study two different realities of law: one based on internal operations, practices, concepts, and perceptions, the other focusing on law's interaction with its societal environment. The knowledge interest of SoL is the background or genesis of law and the functions and consequences of legal regulation. The article argues that instead of integrating SoL and legal dogmatic, SoL could fill gaps that legal dogmatic leaves behind due to epistemological shortcomings in explaining legal practice. The article emphasizes that law is not one indivisible entity which is the tendency in most SoL. It consists of different types of legal norms all with their own characteristics. The article introduces the concept of intervening law, which regulates labor, environment, consumers, and the like in relation to protections of different kinds. Intervening regulation indicates a transitional society and heralds the need for a new societal formation. Finally, the article introduces and points out Norm science as a complement to social sciences putting forward motives as explanatory of human behavior. Another advantage is that Norm science acts as a synthesizing tool affording interdisciplinarity.
},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Beyond Theoretical Postulates: Concretizing the Field of Sociology of Law AU - Håkan Hydén Y1 - 2025/05/09 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14 T2 - International Journal of Law and Society JF - International Journal of Law and Society JO - International Journal of Law and Society SP - 103 EP - 120 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-1908 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20250802.14 AB - The article discusses the potential for the field of sociology of law (SoL) to complement legal science in studying the law and as a science of its own. SoL and legal science study two different realities of law: one based on internal operations, practices, concepts, and perceptions, the other focusing on law's interaction with its societal environment. The knowledge interest of SoL is the background or genesis of law and the functions and consequences of legal regulation. The article argues that instead of integrating SoL and legal dogmatic, SoL could fill gaps that legal dogmatic leaves behind due to epistemological shortcomings in explaining legal practice. The article emphasizes that law is not one indivisible entity which is the tendency in most SoL. It consists of different types of legal norms all with their own characteristics. The article introduces the concept of intervening law, which regulates labor, environment, consumers, and the like in relation to protections of different kinds. Intervening regulation indicates a transitional society and heralds the need for a new societal formation. Finally, the article introduces and points out Norm science as a complement to social sciences putting forward motives as explanatory of human behavior. Another advantage is that Norm science acts as a synthesizing tool affording interdisciplinarity. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -
Department of Sociology of Law, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Information