Dr.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIA NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW

Sociology

SOCIAL CHANGE AND LAW

Submitted to:-

Submitted by:-

Prof. (Dr.) Sanjay Singh

Shivanshu Singh

Prof. (Sociology)

Roll No. 141

HOD (Legal Studies and

Ba.llb 1st semester

Humanities-Social Sciences)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am obliged to our Prof. Dr. Sanjay Singh who has given me a golden opportunity for this
research project. I would also like to thank my friends who were always there to extend a
helping hand whenever and wherever required.
I further extend my thanks to library staff of Ram Manohar Lohia National Law
University who helped me in getting all the materials necessary for the project.
SHIVANSHU SINGH
Roll no.141

INTRODUCTION

Social change is a continuous process which searches alternatives to stable man's culture and
their lives too. It is another thing its pace varies from age to age, culture to culture and from
one area of culture to that of another. Social change leads to a new social structure within a
group. Social change on one hand produces new traits and on the other hand it ends the
traditional customs. Thus social changes may come through education, acculturation and
sanskritisation. It has also been observed that many factors such as natural, geographical,
biological, demographic, technological, economic, psychological, political, military, cultural,
ideological and role of great man etc. too effect social change. But for a variety of reasons the
pace of social change has been rather slow in some cultures. It is well known that every
cultural group is a part of nation/state which is governed by some law and legislature. There
is a reciprocal relationship between law and social change. Law is both an effect and cause of
social change and provides strategy for social change.
In the broadest sense law includes all customs and rules, whose observance is required
and enforced by a recognized authority. However, for sociological purposes it is better to
limit the term law to formally enacted and recorded norms by legitimate authority.
Laws are enacted by legislatures. The law making system in every society produces
Legislations concerning various aspects of life. Some of them are framed to maintain law and
order in the society and some are applied to remove social evils and change the conservative
faiths and beliefs. The term social legislation is used to depict these legislations. Social
legislation plays a dynamic role in society. They are effective instruments of social change.
Income redistribution, nationalization of industries, land reforms and provisions of free
education are examples of the effectiveness of law to initiate change.
Law brings about social change both directly and indirectly. In many cases law interacts
directly with social institutions and brings about obvious changes. A law prohibiting
Polygamy has a direct influence on society. It alters the behavior of individuals. On the Other
hand, law plays an indirect role by shaping various social institutions which in turn have a
direct impact on society. For example, the system of compulsory education enables the
functioning of educational institutions which in turn leads to social change.
Law also brings social change by redefining the normative order and creates the
possibility of new forms of social institutions. It provides formal facilities and extends rights
to individuals.
The law against untouchability has not only prohibited the inhuman practice but has also
given formal rights to those who suffered from such disabilities to protest against it. Thus law
not only codifies certain customs and morals but also modifies the behaviour and values
existing in a particular society.
Thus law entails two interrelated processes- the institutionalisation and the
internalisation of patterns of behaviour. Institutionalization means the creation of norms with
provisions for its enforcement, whereas internalisation means the incorporation and

acceptance of values implicit in a law. When the institutionalisation process is successful it in

turn facilitates the internalization of attitudes and beliefs1.
In our quest to discover the effect of law on social change, we generally tend to ignore the
reverse, i.e., the effect of social change on law. That legal change reflects wider social change
often seems too obvious to require discussion2. For example, technological change is one
important direct cause of legal change: the development of the internal combustion engine,
the motor car and later of air transport produced vast areas of new or reshaped legal doctrine
to regulate these new features of life with their attendant possibilities, risks and dangers.
In addition, law can adapt to change in ways that may not be readily apparent on the face
of legal doctrine. Legal concepts can remain in the same form while fundamentally changing
their social functions. Law can adapt to changed social circumstances without necessarily
changing its form or structure.
In this project, it has tried to study the interplay between law and social change the role of
law as an instrument of social change, and the impact of social developments on the
development of legal principles.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE

For decades now law and society theorists have been preoccupied with attempts to explain
the relationship between legal and social change in the context of development of legal
institutions. They viewed the law both as an independent and dependent variable (cause and
effect) in society and emphasized the interdependence of the law with other social systems.
In its most concrete sense, social change means large numbers of people are engaging in
group activities and relationships that are different from those in which they or their parents
engaged in previously. Thus, social change means modifications in the way people work, rear
a family, educate their children, govern them, and seek ultimate meaning in life. In addition
to law and social change there are many other mechanisms of change, such as technology,
ideology, competition, conflict, political and economic factors, and structural strains.
Law is rooted in social institutions, in socio-economic network. These social factors
influence the course of law or the direction of legal change. This is the outcome of personal
and social interactions which are variable and often unpredictable. At the same time, law may
itself change norms in various way. For example, in free India, legal abolition of
untouchability is an attempt to change a long-standing social norm. Yet it has not succeeded
1 Dubey, S.C. (ed), India Since Independence: Social Report on India 1947-1972, VikasPublishing House, New
Delhi, 1977 p.33

2 Renner, Karl, The Institutions of Private Law, Taylor & Francis Inc., 1949, p:84

much due to inadequate social support. Thus there is a reciprocal relationship between law
and society. The term social change is also used to indicate the changes that take place in
human interactions and inter-relations. Society is a web-relationship and social change
obviously means a change in the system of social relationship where a social relationship is
understood terms of social processes and social interactions and social organizations 3. Thus,
the term, social change is used to indicate desirable variations in social institution, social
processes and social organization. It includes alterations in the structure and the functions of
the society. Closer analysis of the role of law vis--vis social change leads us to distinguish
between the direct and the indirect aspects of the role of law.

LAW AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Law plays an important indirect role in regard to social change by shaping have a direct
impact on society. For example: A law setting up a compulsory educational system.
On the other hand, law interacts in many cases indirectly with basic social institutions in a
manner constituting a direct relationship between law and social change. For example: A law
designed to prohibit polygamy.
Law plays an agent of modernization and social change. It is also as and indicator of the
nature of societal complexity and its attendant problems of integration. Further, the
reinforcement of our belief in the age old panchayat system, the abolition of the abhorable
practices of untouchability, child marriage, sati dowry, etc are typical illustrations of social
change being brought about in the country trough law4.
Law is an effective medium or agency, instrumental in bringing about social change in the
country or in any region in particular. Therefore, we rejuvenate our belief that law has been
pivotal in introducing changes in the societal structure and relationships and continues to be
so. As of today, the decisions of the Court are not just being tested on the touch stone of
social justice, but indeed they are being cited of as precursors to social rights. The Court has
pro-actively and vigorously taken up to cause of social justice and has gone to the extent of
articulating newer social rights such as the right to food, right to health, right to education
Thus, the march of law is clearly in favour of Supreme Court having performed a pro-active
role in social change of the languishing masses5. It certainly has acted as a catalyst in the
3 # Liberty and Social Relatives, 1979 p. no. 85-104.
4 Galanter, Marc, Law and Society in Modern India, Oxford University Press, NewDelhi, 1997.

5 Kothari, Rajni, Politics in India, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1970

process of social transformation of people wherein the dilution of caste inequalities,

protective measures for the weak and vulnerable sections, providing for the dignified
existence of those living under unwholesome conditions, etc, are the illustrious examples in
this regards.
The law, through legislative and administrative responses to new social conditions and ideas,
as well as through judicial re-interpretations of constitutions, statutes or precedents,
increasingly not only articulates but sets the course for major social change. Attempted social
change, through law, is a basic trait of the modern world. Many authors consider law as a
desirable necessary and highly efficient means of inducing change, preferable to other
instruments of change. In present-day societies, the role of law in social change is of more
than theoretical interest. In many areas of life such as education, race relations, housing,
transportation, energy utilization, protection of the environment, and crime prevention, the
law and litigation are important instruments of change. Law plays an important indirect
role in social change by shaping various social institutions, which in turn have a direct
impact on society. [eg. Mandatory school attendance upgraded the quality of the labor force,
which in turn played a direct role in social change by contributing to an increased rate of
industrialization. The law interacts in many cases directly with basic social institutions,
constituting a direct relationship between law and social change].

CONCLUSION
The history of mankind reveals that human wisdom has devised different methods and means
to meet the structural changes in the social system which take place with the advancement of
knowledge, culture and civilization. Law has always been considered as one of the important
instruments of affecting social change. Though there are several devices to bring about a
change and reformation in society, but reformation through law is perhaps one of the most
effective and safest methods to achieve this end.
A change in the established pattern of social relations between racial or ethnic groups in a
society would constitute social change, but a general increase or decrease in the amount of
economic wealth in a society would not.
In our quest to discover the effect of law on social change, we generally tend to ignore the
reverse, i.e., the effect of social change on law. That legal change reflects wider social change
often seems too obvious to require discussion. For example, technological change is one
important direct cause of legal change: the development of the internal combustion engine,
the motor car and later of air transport produced vast areas of new or reshaped legal doctrine
to regulate these new features of life with their attendant possibilities, risks and dangers.
It is a fact that the tendency of the society is to look for stability and certainty, as the society
is conversant with the existing practices. They would be sure that the law of yesterday would
still be the law of tomorrow. But stability and certainty alone, however, are not sufficient to
provide us with an effective, vital system of law. Progress also has a justified claim upon the

law. In the contemporary scenario, law needs to play a proactive role in bringing about social
change.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pandey, J.N., Constitutional Law of India, Central Law Agency, Allahabad, 2005.
Jain, M.P., Indian Constitutional Law, Wadhwa Publications, Nagpur, 2005.
Kothari, Rajni, Politics in India, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1970.
Jha, S.N. & Mathur, P.C., Decentralisation and Local Politics, Sage Publications, New
Delhi, 1999.
Dev Indra, Sociology of Law, Oxford University Press, 2005

WEBLIOGRAPHY
http://faizlawjournal.blogspot.in
http://preservearticles.com
www.law.harvard.edu