Samhället och barnaga: en rättsociologisk fallstudie om det samhälleliga genomslaget av förbudet mot aga av barn

Sammanfattning: Whether a law implementation can be said to have had an social impact is largely dependent on if the law in question effected the minds of the people it was tasked to govern. Previous research of successful implementation of laws identify the importance of certain conditions to be present if a law is to be termed “successful”. A law implementation that has been recognized as having had a marked effect on the views of the society in question is the 1979 Swedish prohibition of corporal punishment against children. It caused an opinion shift towards a society where the corporal punishment of children is not a tolerated rearing method. Aims. To create an understanding of the characteristics of laws with pronounced impact on society. Method. A case study of the Swedish prohibition of corporal punishment is analyzed against a theory of the necessary conditions for law implementation to be effective in the minds of the people ruled by it. Results. There are some necessary conditions that can be said to be highly present in the implementation process of the prohibition, others can be connected to the theory not by the practical condition described but through what the condition was said to enable the society do. Conclusion. The characteristics of laws with a prominent effect on society are multifaceted as well as in continuous alteration.