Family Gatherings and a Dirty Little Secret of the Law and Society Association

Abstract:     
This article discusses the irony of the longstanding suspicion of economic approaches within the law and society movement, despite the fact that some of the movement's greatest scholars have not so surreptitiously used economic theory in their work. Although economists are generally treated as the "black sheep" of the law and society family, economic principles have been employed in the work of several well respected law and society scholars, including Willard Hurst and Marc Galanter. Galanter's seminal law and society article Why the 'Haves' Come Out Ahead is discussed at length. The author concludes that the dirty little secret of the law and society movement is that a very good argument can be made that the progressive wing of the law and economics movement owes its paternity to law and society scholars such as Hurst and Galanter.

Keywords: law and economics, law and society, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, haves, have-nots

Accepted Paper Series