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Bibliographic Citation
Gwendolyn Leachman & Catherine Albiston, Law as an Instrument of Social Change, in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences 542 (James D. Wright ed., 2015).
Abstract
To review law as an instrument of social change, one first has to address what one means by ‘law’ and by ‘social change.’ We can then examine the mechanisms through which law changes society. This article begins with methodological and definitional issues in studying law as an instrument of social change. It then reviews empirical findings about the mechanisms through which law changes society, focusing in particular on the debate about rights litigation as a social change strategy, the ways organizations respond to legal institutions and implement law, and the relationship between law and social movements.
