Laura R. Ford (Cornell University) has posted Semantic Legal Ordering: Property and its Social Effects (European Economic Sociology Newsletter, Vol. 10, No. 3, July 2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
- This essay identifies and briefly describes two theoretical traditions in the sociological study of property. It then offers a preliminary sketch of "semantic legal ordering," a theoretical perspective that aims at synthesizing these two theoretical traditions. It concludes by highlighting a "paradox of property" that may be seen when the social conditions necessary to property’s existence, as well as their social effects, are viewed from the perspective of these two theoretical traditions.
