ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the enterprise of sociological jurisprudence – the effort to link juristic work with social scientific inquiry – over a century of its existence. It focuses on the promise and disappointments that have surrounded this enterprise. Both social science and jurisprudence have radically changed in character since the early twentieth century. A new sociological jurisprudence, if it is to fulfil the promises and avoid the disappointments of the past, must draw far more seriously, and in a much more sustained way, on the resources of social theory and empirical research than did the pioneer sociological jurists. The chapter reconsiders, in their historical context, the efforts of Roscoe Pound and of European scholars a century ago. It outlines a contemporary orientation for sociological jurisprudence as a value-focused project. While this project is clearly distinct from a scientific sociology of law, it must aim to imbue contemporary juristic practice with the insights of social science.
