The Method Is the Message: Movement Law and the Social Change Commons

Authors

Raymond H. Brescia

Abstract

Legal scholars have long sought to understand the relationship between social movements and the law. A new group of such scholars has argued that to better understand this relationship, and to advance social change that is effective, sustainable, equitable, and just, they must engage in dialogue with such movements to generate ideas that will catalyze that change. For those interested in generating ideas that can spark meaningful and lasting social change, such developments in legal scholarship represent an exciting evolution in the relationship between legal scholarship, legal scholars, and social movements: a relationship that appears to be growing stronger, deeper, more integrated, and more complex. At the same time, a different body of socio-legal scholarship, that which focuses on production of culture, assesses the institutional and normative environment in which such ideas are produced, looking at the financial and other incentives necessary to do so. The co-creation of ideas in the social change space represents, in many ways, the production of cultural phenomena (how to frame a particular injustice, the prefigured imaginings of what justice could look like, and the tactics and strategies necessary to realize that vision of justice). Yet creativity and ideation in this space are different from the typical context in which cultural artifacts are produced; social change requires a different approach; different logics; and a different understanding of how to incentivize, foster, and nurture co-creation. This work identifies the environment necessary for the co-creation of ideas that will advance social change that is just, effective, and durable as what is called in the literature a commons. A commons generally requires a particular set of institutional arrangements in order to flourish. As a commons, those who would operate within it can learn from the lessons of effective common-pool-resource management to understand the institutions that typically lead to positive outcomes in such settings. This is the first Article to identify the social change space as a commons, and then to analyze the functioning of that commons to identify the norms and institutions that foster effective cultural innovation in such settings.

Recommended Citation

Raymond H. Brescia, The Method Is the Message: Movement Law and the Social Change Commons, 129 Dick. L. Rev. 375 (2025).
Available at: https://insight.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlr/vol129/iss2/2