Social & Legal Studies Journal

“Climate (Im)Mobility: Legal and Policy Pathways to Displacement and Entrapment in the Global Climate Emergency” Reflections from the Southampton Workshop On 9 June 2025, a hybrid workshop “Climate (Im)Mobility: Legal and Policy Pathways to Displacement and Entrapment in the Global Climate Emergency” was held at the University of Southampton with the funding support of the Social and Legal Studies journal. Thanks to their generous support, the organisers Andrea Maria Pelliconi, Sara Arapiles and Pratik Purswani convened the event, which brought together ten scholars to exchange ideas at the intersection of law, climate justice, sovereignty, and displacement…

Read Andrea Maria Pelliconi (Southampton), Sara Arapiles (Lund), and Pratik Purswani's (Galway) write up of their S&LS Sponsored event - Climate (Im)Mobility: Legal and Policy Pathways to Displacement and Entrapment in the Global Climate Emergency

Family Reunification and Domestic Marriage Law: Implications of Legal Pluralism Beyond Borders he unexpected ramification of these unregistered marriages is that they may also be a barrier for those seeking reunification with spouses abroad, notably those who have sought asylum abroad.

In our latest blog Holly Dunn explores "Family Reunification and Domestic Marriage Law: Implications of Legal Pluralism Beyond Borders"

Institutional racism? We need to talk about the UK government’s role in institutionalising racism. Whatever the anti-racist intentions of well-meaning parliamentarians and campaigners, however, families have experienced FGM safeguarding policies as racism-in-action.

Our latest blog, 'Institutional racism? We need to talk about the UK government’s role in institutionalising racism', written by Natasha Carver, Bristol University, is available to read now.

Follow Natasha on BlueSky at @mmbuob.bsky.social and see also @uob-policystudies.bsky.social

Social & Legal Studies Editors’ Choice Award 2024 The joint winners of the 2024 Social & Legal Studies Editors' Choice Awards are .... Santer, K. O. (2024). Governing Through Scalar Elasticity: An Analysis of the Accountability Gap in Migration Control in the Central Mediterranean. Social & Legal Studies, 33(1), 3-20. and King, T. J., Shaw, J. D., & Kennedy, L. (2024). Documenting the Document: The Forensic Hospital Report and Its Knowledge Moves.

This blog post records the winners of the Social & Legal Studies Journal, Editors' Choice Award 2024.

Legislation as Disinformation We studied the impact of such discriminatory legislation on vulnerable sections of society, in this case, inter-faith couples. We argue that the nature of these legislative developments and their role within the ideological framework of Hindu nationalism necessitates an urgent re-evaluation of the presumptions that underlie the characterization of India as a “democracy” in the contemporary period.

Our first post following the Spring Vacation 2025 is from Yash Sharma, University of Cincinnati, 'Legislation as Disinformation'

Criminalising the ‘Other’ In this blog post, I want to further discuss the routineness, almost mundanity, of the mechanisms of criminalisation which can directly bear upon language minoritised peoples who come to be targets of criminal ‘justice’ intervention. I will write here about an Australian case of wrongful conviction in which language difference played a significant role.

In our latest blog post of 2025, Joseph van Buuren (RMIT) examines the 'routineness, almost mundanity, of the mechanisms of criminalisation which can directly bear upon language minoritised peoples' in his blog post 'Criminalising the Other'

Anchoring justice at sea? Foreign aid to manage a fishy business The sea opens opportunities to study socio-legal implications of rights and forms of justice. It is borderless and global, while most people rely on its resources. Despite concerns about climate change and marine extinction, economic interests often impede preservation and equitable resource distribution. The sea’s importance draws donors and parties like the United Nations (UN) to establish global rules and regulations for its use and exploitation.  

Our fifth blog post of 2025 comes from Randi Solhjell, University of Oslo, 'Anchoring justice at sea? Foreign aid to manage a fishy business'

Learned Helplessness or Missed Opportunity? Reviving Sectoral Collective Bargaining under the Minimum Wage Directive in Hungary With the implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive, the Hungarian government has once again missed an excellent opportunity to involve autonomous social partners in addressing economic and social issues. This decision represents yet another step away from a well-functioning pluralistic democracy and from the broader realization of social justice in Hungary...

Learned Helplessness or Missed Opportunity? Reviving Sectoral Collective Bargaining under the Minimum Wage Directive in Hungary

With the implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive, the Hungarian government has once again missed an excellent opportunity to involve autonomous social partners in…

Our first issue of 2025 is now live at @slsjournal.bsky.social. We hope you enjoy it - VOLUME 34!

Decentering Narratives: Intellectual Lived Experiences and Critical Reflections on Race and Law Academic writing often neglects to explore or acknowledge the intellectual inspirations and experiences that shape a scholar's approach to their work. Specifically, while methodology (the “how” of research) is often explicitly discussed, the broader intellectual and experiential contexts—or “intellectually lived experiences”, such as the personal, cultural, and intellectual encounters that influence a scholar’s thinking (the “why” behind their perspectives)—are often overlooked.

In our third blog of 2025, Asta Zokaityte and Will Mbioh (Kent Law School, University of Kent), write about 'Decentering Narratives: Intellectual Lived Experiences and Critical Reflections on Race and Law'

Lawyers as Constructive Ideologists of Corporate Capitalism The adaptability of law also provides scope for emancipatory creative lawyering, although to play an effective part in movements for wider social change it must be grounded in both a grasp of the wider political economy and political practice. However, law’s versatility also means that such movements can be accommodated or reintegrated with modifications of power structures.

In our second blog of 2025, one of our founding editors, Sol Picciotto, writes about 'Lawyers as Constructive Ideologists of Corporate Capitalism'

Time and torture Despite the seeming indeterminacy, advocates and adjudicators have tried to pin time down as a proxy for structuring experiences and ascribing values. Ultimately, I found that time functions as a proxy, it is central to the judicial imagination, a register of recognition, and a sense-making device – albeit largely implicit and intuitive.

Our first new blog of 2025 'Time and Torture', comes from Ergün Cakal.

Can The Law Change Us? And yet, even when the law is identified as a source, when not the source, of injustice, it is paradoxically also seen as the main remedy to such injustice, as debates usually focus on the need for…

Another blog from the archives - 'Can the Law Change Us?', by Henrique Carvalho @henriquecarvalho.bsky.social socialandlegalstudies.wordpress.com/2024/03/25/c...

The Form of Forms: what next? Application forms not only impose administrative burdens on people, they also exact an emotional toll. The response to the paper has illuminated the pressing need for lived experience research on a…

While we're getting started on Bluesky, we'll be delving into our blog archive. Our first blog from the archive is Aisling Ryan's 'The Form of Forms: what next?', first published in March this year - which you can read here socialandlegalstudies.wordpress.com/2024/03/04/t...

Social & Legal Studies - Volume 33, Number 6, Dec 01, 2024 Table of contents for Social & Legal Studies, 33, 6, Dec 01, 2024

As Editor, it is always with a sense of achievement that I announce a new issue of Social & Legal Studies. Our December issue has now gone live. A big issue to finish 2024. journals.sagepub.com/toc/SLS/curr... #academicsky