ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses What is the value of social theory in legal studies today and why is law an important social phenomenon for social theory to consider? and considers recent challenges to the projects of social science and social theory. It introduces the special problems posed for theoretical studies of law by globalization and the growth of transnational law. The chapter argues that various changes in both law and social theory are bringing about a greater mutual dependence. It suggests that law had often been able to avoid entanglement with social theory because it could take the nature of the social for granted. In the classic social theory of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, 'society' was mainly typified by the politically organized and territorially bounded society of the modern Western nation state. Law, as a system itself, depends on the lifeworld for its authority and significance.
