The Sociological Concept of Validity

The subject-matter of the sociological concept of validity is social validity. A norm is valid socially if it is complied with or a sanction is imposed for non-compliance. This definition allows for numerous interpretations.

One reason it does is that the concepts employed in the definition—the concepts of compliance and the imposition of a sanction for non- compliance—are ambiguous. This is especially true of the concept of compliance with a norm. One may ask, say, whether it is sufficient for compliance with a norm that behaviour conform externally to the norm, or whether compliance with a norm presupposes certain knowledge and motives on the part of the complying person. If one focuses on the latter, one faces the question of what knowledge and which motives must be present before one can speak of compliance with a norm. The second reason the definition of social validity allows for numerous interpretations is that a norm may be complied with to varying degrees, and the imposition of a sanction for non-compliance may also vary in degree. The result is that the social efficacy of a norm and thereby its social validity is a matter of degree. A norm with a high degree of efficacy is complied with in, say, 80 per cent of the situations in which it is applicable, and a sanction is imposed in, say, 95 per cent of the cases of non-compliance. By contrast, the degree of efficacy is very low for a norm that is complied with in, say, merely 5 per cent of the situations in which it is applicable, and where a sanction is imposed in, say, merely 3 per cent of the cases of non-compliance. Between these extremes, however, the matter is less clear. Consider two norms, a norm at an 85 per cent level of compliance, but where a sanction is imposed in merely 1 per cent of the cases of non-compliance, and a norm at a mere 20 per cent level of compliance, but where a sanction is imposed in 98 per cent of the cases of non-compliance. The question of which of these two norms has a higher degree of social efficacy cannot be answered on the basis of the percentages alone.

Any answer presupposes a determination, within the framework of the concept of social validity, of the relative significance of, on the one hand, compliance and. on the other, the imposition of a sanction for non-compliance.

The problems of social validity are thoroughly discussed in the field of legal sociology.¹⁴⁴ where empirical questions raised in the research into effectiveness¹⁴⁵ require a more precise statement. For our purposes here, three insights suffice. The first is that social validity is a matter of degree. The second is that social validity is recognizable with the help of two criteria: that of compliance and that of the imposition of a sanction for non-compliance. The third insight is that the imposition of a sanction for non-compliance with legal norms includes the exercise of physical coercion, which, in developed legal systems, is a task reserved to the state.¹*

¹¹¹ Sec Hubert Rottleuthncr, Rechtstheorie und Rechtssoziologie (Freiburg and Munich: Karl Alber. 1981). at 91-115: Klaus F. Rohl. Rechisso- ziologie (Cologne et al.: Carl Hcymann, 1987). at 243-51.

^14-4 See Hubert Rottleuthncr, Einführung in die Rechissoziotogie (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgcscllschaft, 1987), at 54 77.

¹⁴⁶ Sec above, this text, at 14-15.

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Source: Alexy Robert. The Argument from Injustice: A Reply to Legal Positivism. Oxford University Press,2010. — 159 p.. 2010

The Sociological Concept of Validity

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