Developments In Law and Popular Culture Research (WG Law and Popular Culture)

Popular culture is a field of research concerned with the beliefs and perceptions of ordinary people, the media products created for them, and the effects of their consumption. “Popular legal culture” refers primarily to lay people’s ideas about the law (Friedman) and the media through which they acquire such ideas. It is essential for sociologists of law to recognise that lay audiences are not necessarily interested in legally accurate portrayals. Rather, they interpret news and stories about law through cultural notions of “justice,” upright lawyers and judges, and the ideal of a fair legal system.

This session brings together recent advances in research on popular legal culture and the law. "Law" is defined here in the widest sense and may relate to state law, or the "living law" of social associations (Ehrlich). We are looking forward to discussing developments in film, television, music, music theatre, theatre and other channels of communication. Welcome are also papers on the methods of studying law and popular culture, on audience preferences and effects, and on the reaction of professional actors from inside the legal system, political system or the culture industries, to popular legal culture.

Contributions are invited from members of the RCSL Working Group Law and Popular Culture and from other researchers interested in the topic area.