Law and society and law and economics are the oldest and most institutionalized of the 'law ands.' In their break with the mainstream doctrinal study of law, law and society and law and economics share a number of features. As descendants of American Legal Realism, they share a the conviction that legal scholarship (and law) will be enriched by the application of social science. While law and society and law and economics differ fundamentally in their units of analysis and their models of human decision-making, these differences lie within a shared social scientific framework. The emergence of scholarship that draws upon both traditions suggests that rich areas of collaboration wait to be explored. Perhaps it is time for law and society and law and economics to appreciate their complementarity and forsake the narcissism of small differences that has kept them apart.
