This book’s basic hypothesis – which it proposes to test with a cognitive-sociological approach – is that legal behavior, like every form of human behavior, is directed and framed by biosocial constraints that are neither entirely genetic nor exclusively cultural. As such, from a sociological perspective the law can be seen as a super-meme, that is, as a biosocial constraint that develops only in complex societies. This super-meme theory, by highlighting a fundamental distinction between defensive and assertive biases, might explain the false contradiction between law as a static and historical phenomenon, and law as a dynamic and promotional element.
Socio-legal scholars today have to face the challenge of pursuing a truly interdisciplinary approach, connecting all the fields that can contribute to building a modern theory of normative behavior and social action. Understanding and framing concepts such as rationality, emotion, or justice can help to overcome the significant divide between micro and macro sociological knowledge. Social scientists who are interested in the law must be able to master the epistemological discourses of different disciplines, and to produce fruitful syntheses and bridge-operations so as to understand the legal phenomenon from each different point of view.
The book adopts four perspectives: sociological, psychological, biological-evolutionary and cognitive. All of them have the potential to be mutually integrated, and constitute that general social science that provides common ground for exchange. The goal is to arrive at a broad and integrated view of the socio-legal phenomenon, paving the way for a comprehensive theory of norm-oriented and norm-perceived actions.
Author(s): Luigi Cominelli
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 207
Preface......Page 5
Introduction......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
1.1 The Social Subject as a Legal Actor......Page 11
1.2 The Connection Between Micro- and Macro-Theories......Page 17
1.3 Rationality......Page 21
1.4 Emotions and Justice......Page 28
1.5 Toward an Empirical and Physicalist “Cognitive Sociology”......Page 38
References......Page 42
2.1 Law and Psychology......Page 48
2.2 The Social Psychology of Law......Page 53
2.3 Distributive Justice......Page 58
2.4 Procedural Justice......Page 67
2.5 Transgression, Conformism, and Aggression......Page 73
2.6 The Criticisms Against Legal Psychology, and Why They Should Be Rejected......Page 79
References......Page 85
3.1 Sociological Theories of Human Behavior......Page 92
3.2 The Paradox of Cooperation......Page 98
3.3 Sociobiology and the Epigenetic Hypothesis......Page 105
3.4 Evolutionary Analysis of Legal Attitudes......Page 117
3.5 Criticism of the Biosocial Synthesis......Page 127
References......Page 135
4.1 The Brain, Cognitive Science, and Law......Page 144
4.2 Neuroscientific Techniques Applied to the Law......Page 150
4.3 Imitation, Mirroring, Empathy......Page 157
4.4 Decisions, Heuristics, and Biases......Page 163
4.5 The Endowment Effect and Equity Seeking......Page 167
4.6 Anchoring, Confirmation, Hindsight, and Other Biases......Page 173
4.7 Nudging......Page 180
4.8 The Way Forward for Cognitive Law......Page 188
References......Page 191
Chapter 5: Conclusion......Page 202
