Social Change and Legal Responses: A Dual Narrative

Social Change and Legal Responses: A Dual Narrative

Dr. Michelle Beshears

History contains examples showing how the law has influenced social change. One need only look at the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution. An Amendment, which Congress passed on June 14, 1919, was ratified in 1920. An Amendment I dare say most United States citizens take for granted with no idea about it or how important it was for America’s women.  

Women in the United States have only had the right to vote for less than 100 years. Still, this example reflects the relationship between law and social change. Changes in society are a product of multiple factors and social mechanisms. Likewise, there is a multitude of factors that influence the law. All of these factors of law and social change are interrelated.

Whether a law is a cause of social change or a result of social change is controversial. Some scholars argue that the law reacts to social change. The Civil Rights movement of 1964 is a prominent example of such a movement forcing legal change. Conversely, other scholars argue that law creates social change, as demonstrated in the post-WWII legal changes that shifted Eastern bloc countries from bourgeois societies to socialist societies. Law is increasingly used as an instrument of social change in social issues, such as education, environment, housing, and transportation. In reality, the relationship between law and social change is reciprocal, with no single position explaining all social or legal change instances.

Law as an instrument of social change has distinct advantages. The advantages of law as an instrument of social change are based on the perception of law as legitimate, rational, authoritative, institutionalized, not disruptive, and backed by mechanisms of enforcement and sanctions. Likewise, a law has limitations as an instrument of social change. It can’t resolve all conflicts, and the law favors the privileged. Further, the law tends to be vague and clumsy and it is impossible to see and plan for all possible issues that may arise. Additionally, the law does not deal effectively with all social issues.

In addition to these advantages and disadvantages, there are social, psychological, cultural, and economic factors that create resistance to change. The social factors include social class, morality, vested interests, and organized opposition. Psychological barriers to change include habit, motivation, ignorance, selective perception, and the inherent complexity of moral development. Cultural barriers include fatalism, ethnocentrism, notions of incompatibility, and superstition. The most effective and decisive barriers to change are economic factors such as prohibitive costs and limits on the availability of economic resources.

Let’s now fast forward to a more recent issue about law and social change. That being the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. From a sociological perspective, it will be interesting to see what, if any, social changes will occur in the future. It may well be just like the 19th Amendment is now. In less than a hundred years, will anyone realize it was not always so? 

In closing, as mentioned earlier, the relationship between law and social change is reciprocal, with no single position explaining all social or legal change instances.

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Dr. Beshears has earned two baccalaureate degrees, one in social psychology and another in criminal justice. She also has two graduate degrees one in human resource development and another in criminology, from Indiana State University. She has also earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration with a specialization in Criminal Justice from Northcentral University. Dr. Beshears served in the U.S. Army for 11 years. She obtained the rank of Staff Sergeant before attending Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where she earned her commission. As a commissioned officer. Dr. Beshears has led numerous criminal investigations and worked with several external agencies. As a civilian, she has worked with the local sheriff’s department, state drug task force, and FBI. Dr. Beshears resides with her husband, Dr. Michael Beshears, their son Hunter, and daughter Malia near Norfork and Bull Shoals Lakes in Clarkridge, Arkansas. She has three beautiful grown stepdaughters, Michele, Cora, and Mollye.