Accessible research on law and rights? Reflections on the positioning of research on law and society between application-orientation and academic excellence

Opening lecture at the Fifth Congress of the German-speaking Sociology of Law Associations „Access to Law – Accessible Rights?“, University of Innsbruck, 21 September 2023

Abstract

A congress with the thematic focus ‘Access to Law – Accessible Rights?’ should also address this topic in a self-reflective manner and ask about the accessibility of research on law and society outside the narrow academic fields of discourse. The opening lecture at the fifth congress of the German-speaking sociology of law associations will therefore focus on the question of the relationship between interdisciplinary research on law and society and the so-called practice, i.e. relevant environments outside the academic system. Starting from the observation that, in times of major social upheaval, science must also reassess its position in society, in a first approach the relationship between scientific function and performance is analysed. In fact, this connection is often observed within the scientific community as a tense relationship, and is brought into a dichotomy between fundamental and applied research – with often little exchange between the two research orientations. In a second step, the challenges of research with a strong practical orientation will be analysed. The concept of boundary work offers insightful suggestions as to how the preservation of scientific autonomy and the drawing of boundaries can be made more likely while maintaining a high degree of openness to the environment. In a third step, it is important to ask what concrete forms it can take when science and practice enter into dialogue or even cooperate with each other, and which intermediary meeting and communication formats appear to be beneficial for this. Finally, there is an invitation to a shift in perspective: away from the observation of inadequate reception of sociological legal research by practitioners towards shaping the interfaces to and cooperation with the so-called practice proactively – in the sense of a translational research approach.