Laws as an Effective Means of Achieving Social Change

Laws are not an effective means of achieving social change.
Describe a specific situation in which a law might be an effective means of achieving social change. Discuss what you think determines whether or not laws can effectively bring about social change.
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Advocacy groups employ different ways to achieve their desired social change. They mobilize affected parties and the public at large by bringing wide publicity to the issue. They consult academics and experts to study and analyze their issue as a way to strengthen their case. They also lobby congress to suggest new laws or amend existing ones. While establishing a certain law may provide a backbone for social change, the law--as it exists alone--does not transform society in a way desired by proponents. Rather, advocacy groups must continue seeing that the law is regularly enforced and actively used to support actions of social change.

Existing alone, laws do not provide an effective means of achieving social change. Some laws are merely symbolic and do not really carry any legal weight. They exist in the books but people cannot really sue under them. For example, the Bill of Rights would be ineffective if people could not refer to their freedoms in a court of law to support claims for an injunction or damages. Indeed, the 5th and 14th amendments allow people to use the courts as a way to enforce their rights. Without its legal weight, the Bill of Rights could not effectively protect citizens. Key social movements of history, including the prohibition of slavery and greater speech protections for protestors, would probably not have as much effect today if it were not for citizens' abilities to use the Bill of Rights in court.

Laws per se do not provide an effective means of achieving social change. However, they can make some difference in the path toward change. For example, case law may be useful in supporting a lawsuit that seeks social change. Lawyers refer to case precedent---or cases adjudicated in the past--in analyzing issues. When a judge in the appropriate jurisdiction rules favorably on a case, lawyers can use this precedent as foundation for their arguments. The accumulation of case law, indeed, can lead to significant rulings that provoke social change.


In order for laws to be an effective means of achieving change, they must be regularly enforced and recognized by the legal community. Some laws are merely symbolic and really have no effect in the world. Others carry legal weight and can be used to protect one's self from violations. Indeed, there should exist a community or powerful organization advocating for the social change that helps ensure laws are respected by police and courts.