Socio-Legal Approaches to Property Law Research

This contribution to the special issue addresses the "what, how, what to be wary of, and why" questions about socio-legal approaches to researching property law. As will become clear, it is not possible to talk about "the" socio-legal approach; this article starts with these definitional difficulties and then discusses the range of research which can be labelled as socio-legal. Following an overview of the challenges faced by the socio-legal researcher, the article concludes by assessing the unique perspective provided by this research approach

The Dynamics of Enduring Property Relationships in Land

This article proposes a new way of looking at property relationships that will enrich our understanding of how they operate. It focuses on property rights in land which are consensual in origin, although this approach could usefully be applied both to non-consensual property relationships and to other property types. Recognising both the temporal and spatial dimensions of land, the dynamics approach reflects the fact that most property relationships are lived relationships, affected by changing patterns and understandings of spatial use, relationship needs, economic realities, opportunities, technical innovations, and so on. Although evolving responsively to accommodate changing uses and new rights-holders, these relationships are nevertheless sustained and enduring. The dynamics lens acknowledges the diverse range of legal, regulatory, social and commercial norms that shape property relations. Our approach also explores how far the enduring, yet dynamic, nature of property relations is taken into account by a range of decision-makers

(In)formalization and the civilizing process : applying the work of Norbert Elias to housing-based anti-social behaviour interventions in the UK

This paper uses Norbert Elias's theory of the civilizing process to examine trends in social conduct in the UK and to identify how problematic “anti‐social” behaviour is conceptualized and governed through housing‐based mechanisms of intervention. The paper describes how Elias's concepts of the formalization and informalization of conduct and the construction of established and outsider groups provide an analytical framework for understanding social relations. It continues by discussing how de‐civilizing processes are also evident in contemporary society, and are applied to current policy discourse around Respect and anti‐social behaviour. The paper uses the governance of “anti‐social” conduct through housing mechanisms in the UK to critique the work of Elias and concludes by arguing that a revised concept of the civilizing process provides a useful analytical framework for future studies

An ideal Weyl semimetal induced by magnetic exchange

Weyl semimetals exhibit exceptional quantum electronic transport due to the presence of topologically-protected band crossings called Weyl nodes. The nodes come in pairs with opposite chirality, but their number and location in momentum space is otherwise material specific. Following the initial discoveries there is now a need for better material realizations, ideally comprising a single pair of Weyl nodes located at or very close to the Fermi level and in an energy window free from other overlapping bands. Here we propose the layered intermetallic EuCd$_2$As$_2$ to be such a system. We show that Weyl nodes in EuCd$_2$As$_2$ are magnetically-induced via exchange coupling, emerging when the Eu spins are aligned by a small external magnetic field. The identification of EuCd$_2$As$_2$ as a model magnetic Weyl semimetal, evidenced here by ab initio calculations, photoemission spectroscopy, quantum oscillations and anomalous Hall transport measurements, opens the door to fundamental tests of Weyl physics

Promoting responsibility, shaping behaviour: housing management, mixed communities and the construction of citizenship

This article examines housing policies aimed at establishing mixed income communities. Based on stakeholder interviews and case study analysis in England and Scotland, the article pays particular attention to the impact of interventions in housing management. The first part of the article considers the policy context for mixed communities and considers the conceptual basis underlying contemporary housing management through discourses of culture and social control. The second part considers how this agenda has resulted in the adoption of intensive management strategies within mixed communities; illustrated in the development of allocation policies, initiatives designed to tackle anti-social behaviour and proposals to develop sustainable communities. The main argument is given that the concept of mixed communities is based on the premise of social housing failure, citizenship has been defined largely in response to private sector interests. This approach to management has been a contributory factor in the construction of social housing as a form of second-class citizenship

Differentiation and displacement: Unpicking the relationship between accounts of illness and social structure

This article seeks to unpack the relationship between social structure and accounts of illness. Taking dentine hypersensitivity as an example, this article explores the perspective that accounts of illness are sense-making processes that draw on a readily available pool of meaning. This pool of meaning is composed of a series of distinctions that make available a range of different lines of communication and action about such conditions. Such lines of communication are condensed and preserved over time and are often formed around a concept and its counter concept. The study of such processes is referred to as semantic analysis and involves drawing on the tools and techniques of conceptual history. This article goes on to explore how the semantics of dentine hypersensitivity developed. It illustrates how processes of social differentiation led to the concept being separated from the more dominant concept of dentine sensitivity and how it was medicalised, scientised and economised. In short, this study seeks to present the story of how society has developed a specific language for communicating about sensitivity and hypersensitivity in teeth. In doing so, it proposes that accounts of dentine hypersensitivity draw on lines of communication that society has preserved over time