Le droit comme forme de socialisation : Georg Simmel et le problème de la légitimité

Abstract

Law as a form of sociation : Georg Simmel and the problem of legitimacy. Pierre Noreau. Through legislation and regulation, the state crystallizes forms of sociation which, paradoxically, are constantly overtaken by the norms - and the new forms of sociation - which citizens generate spontaneously in their mutual relations. Serious support for this observation was provided by Georg Simmel (1858-1918), whose work is just beginning to be rediscovered. His "sociology of forms" and his observations on the tension between "life" and "culture" impose a deeper reflection on what democracy can be, i.e. on individual participation in the production of norms that the State can acknowledge, or refuse to acknowledge, as an expression of social consensus. This approach could open the door to what the sociology of law calls "legal pluralism" and which could thus slowly become one of the requisites of modern democracy. Traces of this conception of social and political relations can be found in Montesquieu and Tocqueville.