Law as belief and imagination: an approach to cultural studies

Abstract

Searching for theoretical and methodological tools to re-imagine law as a socio-cultural construction, in this paper will be explored three cultural perspectives of law – Reflexive sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, the cultural analysis of law proposed by Paul Kahn and the postmodern trend of the U.S. critical movement Law & Society – in order to establish what are the contributions they give to the debate and discussion of law in Colombia. For this, the legal views of each perspective will be presented and critically assessed, according to the Colombian context. Based on these assessments, it will be set out contrasts between the contexts of production of these proposals and their context of reception, Colombia, which has a historical, political, social and economic settings highly differentiated. Finally, the author points out some contributions which may be considered for further thoughts and debates about law in Colombia, from the particularities of these perspectives.