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doctrinal legal issues which might preoccupy about the social relationships and processes
some lawyers. Policy researchers will be more which produce and reproduce legal institu-
interested in asking questions about the effi- tions. Jurisprudence is, admittedly, not inter-
cacy of the enforcement of anti-discrimination ested in the day-to-day mundane practices
provisions. The enforcement here is not nec- of lawyers and officials, and instead seeks to
essarily defined in terms of how the law is elucidate the general characteristics of legal
interpreted by the courts, but how legal insti- thought, clarify legal concepts and produce
tutions facilitate, or alternatively discourage, general descriptions of legal systems. But it
the examination of race or gender related dis- still requires data on how law operates and
crimination. Policy researchers would, for interacts with its social environment to pro-
example, use surveys to assess the knowl- duce such general descriptions. It also needs
edge of a piece of anti-discrimination legis- methods for verifying the empirical validity
lation among employers and employees, of these general descriptions. Therefore, both
and to form an idea about the attitude legal practice and jurisprudence should in
of employers to the law and to what extent principle be open to the types of insight that
various groups experience that they are the sociology and other social sciences can pro-
victims of unlawful discrimination. Policy vide. Sociological accounts of how law
researchers could also try to establish what works as an institution can provide legal
sort of legal aid is available to those who practice with insight into law’s social
seek compensation for unlawful discrimina- processes, while methods of the social sci-
tion (for references to various studies see ences can help jurisprudence to examine if its
Banakar and Travers, 2005). concepts and frameworks are grounded in the
The two applied socio-legal approaches reality of law or need to be modified or disre-
discussed here treat the social sciences garded (Galligan, 2006: 18).
largely as a tool for gathering empirical data Sociology can, in return, gain from the
on the role of law in society. Admittedly, study of how sets of formal norms, principles
regarding social sciences as an auxiliary and ideas are dialectically linked to patterns
method for collecting legal data makes them of institutional practices, which in turn repro-
somewhat acceptable to some academic duce the normative backbone of modern
lawyers, but it also impairs their reflexive society. Sociology can also learn from
properties which enable researchers to iden- jurisprudence about the internal mechanisms
tify and explore the taken-for-granted social of the law, about how those who participate
and cultural values of the law. Why socio- in legal processes understand and define their
legal research stops short of adopting reflexive participation, and about the ‘softer’ interpre-
approaches of the social sciences, in general, tive expressions of law, which are found in
and of sociology in particular, is a question legal doctrine and legal reasoning, and which
which takes us back to the epistemic conflicts are not readily available to those who view
and institutional competitions that define the the law from the outside. In short, sociology
relationship between legal practice, jurispru- is equipped and strategically placed to
dence and sociology. observe and analyze law’s interaction with its
social environment, whereas jurisprudence is
best equipped to explore its internal opera-
tion and realities. This can also mean that
PART THREE: CAN LAW AND neither jurisprudence nor sociology is suffi-
SOCIOLOGY LEARN FROM EACH ciently equipped to provide an adequate
OTHER? description and analysis of the role of law in
society. As pointed out by Gurvitch (1947:
As we argued earlier, legal practice is 241), the sociology of law and philosophy of
dependent not only on knowledge of legal law, without mutual contact, are doomed to
rules and doctrine, but also on tacit know-how ‘sterility, dogmatism, and impotence’