Understanding the Sociological School of Jurisprudence: Exploring the Intersection of Law and Society

The Sociological School of Jurisprudence is a unique perspective on the law that emphasizes the importance of studying the social and cultural context in which legal rules and institutions operate. This research paper seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Sociological School of Jurisprudence by examining its historical origins, key concepts, and contemporary relevance. The paper begins with a discussion of the founding figures of the Sociological School, including Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx, and their contributions to the development of this perspective. It then explores the core concepts of the Sociological School, such as legal culture, social norms, and the role of power in shaping legal institutions. The paper also examines the contemporary relevance of the Sociological School, with a focus on its application in areas such as critical race theory, feminist legal theory, and law and economics. The paper argues that the Sociological School of Jurisprudence offers a valuable framework for understanding the complex interactions between law and society, and has the potential to inform more just and equitable legal practices. Keywords: Sociological School Of Jurisprudence, Law And Society, Social Context, Legal Realism, Legal Pluralism, Legal Positivism, Critical Legal Studies, Social Justice

Asylum diversity in the European Union: A case study of residence permit distribution to asylum seekers in Sweden and Finland

The ongoing refugee crisis has divided the European Union. While some states shelter hundreds of thousands of refugees, others only grant asylum to a handful. This phenomenon is creating a demographic rift inside the union and is also causing internal quarrels over joint responsibility, which possibly could undermine the existence of the organization. In this thesis we search for the potential causes of the intra-organizational discrepancy by examining Sweden and Finland. These two states have approximately the same prerequisites for granting asylums, but vary greatly in number. In order to determine what causes this incongruity the states will be analyzed with two variables. The first variable examines the major political parties’ refugee policy, through framing theory. The second variable analyses the Migration Boards through Max Weber’s bureaucracy theory and scrutinizes the Director Generals of these organizations. Both variables result in sub-conclusions, which in the end are merged into one. The final conclusion determines that both variables are jointly contributing to the Swedish-Finnish discrepancy with the states having different political foundational frames, varying levels of bureaucracy of the Migration Boards and different approaches towards immigration from the Director Generals of the Migration Boards

Rationalizing values: global diffusion, global professionals, and truth commissions

In this dissertation, I explore global diffusion, rationalization, and the role global professionals play within both these processes. The main question I explore in this dissertation is: What role do global professionals play in the global diffusion and rationalization of formal structures? Within global diffusion studies, professions and professionals feature prominently. However, the literature says little about how formal structures become rationalized or, in other words, the process by which organizations, principles, and practices are rationalized. In addition, the specific, concrete ways that global professionals contribute to and partake in this diffusion is left relatively vague. My dissertation fills this gap in the literature. To do this, I focus on the new global professional field of transitional justice and, specifically, the diffusion and rationalization of truth commissions, a main mechanism of transitional justice. I draw on ethnographic and archival data derived from a year of internship within a leading transitional justice organization that works on truth commissions. I discuss the unintentional role that values play in provoking global professionals to rationalize and the consequences this rationalization has had on the diffusion of truth commissions, the values and culture of the organization, and the identity of the professionals. Theoretically, the dissertation contributes to scholarship on global diffusion and global professionals, specifically world polity theory. Empirically, the dissertation illuminates possible pitfalls non-profit organizations may fall into that subvert their foundational values and therefore offers a different approach to understanding organizational 'failures' and their potential fixes. Throughout the dissertation, I hope to highlight the import of values, both in being a driving force behind social action and within organizations, particularly those with humanitarian objectives. I also aim to make clear the precariousness of values and thus the critical need to think seriously about how they can be maintained as organizations grow, mature, and diffuse principles and practices

Weber and church governance: religious practice and economic activity

The debate about the relationship between religion and economic activity in the wake of Weber has been cast largely in terms of belief and values. This article suggests an alternative focus on practice. It argues that taken for granted practices of church governance formed to-hand resources for the organization of economic activity. The argument is developed through an examination of the historical development of church governance practices in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, with particular emphasis on the way in which theological belief gave rise to practices of accountability and record keeping. In turn such practices contributed to a ‘culture of organization’ which had implications for economic activity. A focus on governance practices can help to illuminate enduring patterns of difference in the organization of economic activity

Analysing the Adjectival Museum: Exploring the bureaucratic nature of museums and the implications for researchers and the research process

The proliferation of titles for types of museum has resulted in an adjectival explosion in recent years (with museums being engaging, relevant, professional, adaptive, community, national, universal, local, independent, people’s, children’s, scientific, natural history, labour, virtual, symbolic, connected, trust and charitable, amongst many other labels). This paper argues that the adoption of an organizational focus on bureaucratic features such as hierarchical authority, centralisation of power, functional specialisation and research processes can show commonalities in the understandings and challenges linked to museum function. The emphasis on museums as a specific institutional and organizational form allows for the identification and explanation of similarities and differences in their operational existence that extends beyond their particular individual natures. This also implies that the bureaucratic nature of museums has implications for researchers as they are organizations that reflect gender and power dynamics on a micro-level within the research process

The structural dimensions of community-oriented police departments

With the beginning of the twentieth century, police departments throughout the nation, during what has been called the reform movement, changed their organizational structure to that of a bureaucracy. This structural change occurred to deal with the problems of political patronage and corruption in police departments. The result, over time, was the development of municipal police departments into ridged, formalized, and centralized structures that were not responsive to the communities they served. Police officers became professional crime-fighters, who sought little community input; For the past 20 years, pressures from police professionals, local communities and governmental forces have caused police executives to rethink the police mission. Police departments have been told to partner with the community and become community problem solvers, not crime fighters. Police officers have been directed to become innovative general practitioners in the community, who solve problems with community members to reduce both crime and the fear of crime, therefore enhancing quality of life; With this community oriented policing movement, police departments are being told to de-bureaucratize by becoming less complex, less formalized and less centralized in their structural form. This structural change should enhance the police-community partnership, and focus police efforts on problem solving. Due to these pressures, it would be expected that police departments have become isomorphic, or structurally similar, moving away from the Weberian notion of bureaucracy; This study examines measures of central tendency and variability in a sample of twenty municipal police departments throughout the nation, with between 200 and 2000 police officers, considered the leaders in community oriented policing. This sample was compared to a control group of eight municipal police departments that are not considered community oriented police departments; The structural dimensions measured in this study were complexity, formalization, centralization, occupational differentiation, administrative density, and size. This research indicates that successful community oriented police departments are structured differently than their counterparts, and for the most part, have developed a structure that is less complex, less centralized in authority and decision making, more occupationally differentiated, and less administratively dense. These patterns are what the literature has recommended for successful community oriented police departments. As a result of these similar patterns, a structural model has been developed to assist police departments when implementing a community oriented policing philosophy

The Bureaucratic Mentality in Democratic Theory and Contemporary Democracy

This project draws attention to a contemporary exaltation of competence and swift decision-making that emphasizes the moment of executive power in democratic political practice and within democratic theory. Drawing on Weber’s concept of rationalization and his opposition between the mentalities of the official and the politician, I develop a distinct conception of bureaucracy as a mode of thought. Bureaucratic thinking involves the application of technical knowledge and skills, with a claim to universality and objectivity, in order to produce results and promote consensus and social harmony. I argue that this conception allows us to better recognize the contemporary diffusion of a flexible, decentralized type of bureaucracy and situate it within the history of affinity and tension between bureaucratic and democratic principles. I focus on a tradition within continental democratic theory, which tends to downplay politics by replacing it with administration and regulation. French political theorist and historian Pierre Rosanvallon is its contemporary representative, building on Hegel and Durkheim as well as Saint-Simon and Léon Duguit. Initially, Rosanvallon offered a theory of participation and democratic legitimacy that would work within the administrative state, taking into account his own strong critiques of bureaucracy. I argue that significant shifts evident in his later works, which respond to new realities, explicitly and/or implicitly mobilize bureaucratic thinking and practice to buttress democratic legitimacy within the nation-state and the European Union. I then play Rosanvallon’s earlier anti-bureaucratic arguments against his modified position in order to argue against attempts to reconcile bureaucracy and democracy, understood in its procedural form with equal freedom at its core. My claim is that bureaucratic thinking aims at consensus, encourages passivity, undermines the democratic value of political equality, and obscures values and interests behind policy decisions that are presented as neutral, technical, and fact-based. Methodologically, I use the history of ideas to develop the concept of the bureaucratic mentality, tracing it through the work of exemplary thinkers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Hegel, Durkheim, and Weber

Developing Development Theory: Law and Development Orthodoxies and the Northeast Asian Experience

None of the orthodox theories about law and economic development produced in recent decades has been based on a study of the miracle economies of Northeast Asia, nor have any of these orthodoxies seriously been tested against the Northeast Asian experience of law and development. This article conducts such a test, finding that none of these orthodoxies fares well when its claims are tested against the Northeast Asian experience. Rather than using Northeast Asia\u27s experience to produce yet another orthodoxy, however, this article instead proposes rethinking how we understand the task of legal technical assistance, a rethinking which is based upon a close reading of Northeast Asia\u27s experience

The use of narrative therapy in counselling bridging participants

No abstract available.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b119142

Problems with the system-lifeworld binary in Habermas's thought

Dès l'apparition de la Théorie de l'agir communicationnel, les philosophes critiquent le modèle système/monde vécu. Cette théorie de la société repose sur la nouvelle théorie habermassienne de la pragmatique universelle et de son appropriation à la théorie des systèmes de Talcott Parsons. La plupart de ces critiques doutent de la viabilité théorique de d'un modèle binaire de la société. Toutefois, dans cette thèse, je constate l'impossibilité de réconcilier cette nouvelle conception de la société avec les positions politiques antérieures d'Habermas. Il est improbable qu'Habermas aurait pu participer à ces débats tout en défendant sa théorie binaire de la société. Finalement, je constate l'impossibilité de réconcilier ce nouveau modèle théorique avec la théorie du droit développée dans Droit et démocratie. J'arrive à la conclusion suivante : le modèle système/monde vécu doit être modifié ou abandonné