LAW AND SOCIAL INQUIRY-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN BAR FOUNDATION
Scope & Guideline
Transforming Legal Understanding Through Empirical Inquiry
Introduction
Aims and Scopes
- Interdisciplinary Legal Studies:
The journal promotes research that integrates legal analysis with social science methodologies, enabling a comprehensive understanding of legal issues in their societal context. - Human Rights and Social Justice:
A significant focus is placed on the exploration of human rights, social justice movements, and the role of law in addressing inequalities and injustices within societies. - Legal Mobilization and Activism:
The journal examines how individuals and groups engage with legal systems to advocate for rights and social change, highlighting the dynamics of legal consciousness and activism. - Comparative Law and Global Perspectives:
Research often includes comparative analyses of legal systems across different jurisdictions, providing insights into how law functions within diverse cultural and political landscapes. - Impact of Law on Marginalized Communities:
The journal features studies that investigate the effects of legal frameworks on marginalized populations, including issues related to race, gender, and socio-economic status. - Legal Pluralism and Institutional Analysis:
An emphasis on legal pluralism allows for the examination of multiple legal systems coexisting within a society, alongside an analysis of institutional practices and their implications.
Trending and Emerging
- Technology and Law:
There is a growing focus on the intersection of technology and law, particularly regarding issues like data privacy, surveillance, and the implications of digitalization on legal practices. - Environmental Justice:
Emerging themes around environmental law and justice reflect an increasing awareness of the legal dimensions of climate change and ecological sustainability. - Globalization and Law:
Research examining the effects of globalization on legal systems and practices has become more prevalent, highlighting the complexities of transnational legal issues. - Intersectionality in Legal Studies:
A rising interest in intersectionality is evident, particularly how overlapping identities (race, gender, class) influence legal outcomes and experiences within the judicial system. - Health Law and Policy:
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a significant increase in research related to health law, public health policies, and their implications for civil liberties and social justice. - Decolonizing Legal Studies:
An emerging trend involves decolonizing legal studies, focusing on how colonial histories continue to shape contemporary legal frameworks and social hierarchies.
Declining or Waning
- Traditional Legal Doctrinal Analysis:
There is a noticeable decrease in papers that solely focus on traditional legal doctrinal analysis without integrating sociological or interdisciplinary perspectives, indicating a shift towards more contextualized studies. - Historical Legal Studies:
Research dedicated to purely historical legal studies has diminished, as contemporary issues and their socio-legal implications take precedence in scholarly discourse. - Focus on Purely Domestic Legal Issues:
The journal's scope appears to be moving away from papers that only address domestic legal issues, favoring those that incorporate international or transnational perspectives. - Legal Theory Without Empirical Evidence:
There is a declining trend in the publication of theoretical papers that lack empirical support, suggesting a preference for research grounded in empirical data and real-world implications. - Narrow Case Studies:
Papers focusing on overly narrow case studies with limited applicability or relevance to broader legal or social issues seem to be less favored in recent submissions.
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