INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE DECISIONS: CONCEPT OF LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Abstract

In the long run, changes in society, both local and global, are inevitable. What, then, is and should be the relation between a general theory of law and social change? In the 1995 Kobe Lecture in Japan, Josef Raz said, “By and large, only bad theory can lead to change.” But a ‘good theory’, intended only to describe the normative world and not directly to change it or society, enlightens us in a way that changes our outlook in one way or another. As our picture of the world changes, to that extent the change will be reflected in our practice. The change in practice in turn will affect society bringing about its change in the long run. That change can be either what was intended by the theory or an unintended consequence of it, sometimes favorable and sometimes disastrous. A theory may change the course of things as well by putting a halt to change. But if we can tell in advance that the theory will not lead to any social change whatsoever, it only means that the theory is trivial, or valueless even as a description.