Applying theories of social communication to housing law: towards a workable framework

Discussions of housing policy generally either ignore housing law or treat it as a passive instrument for policy implementation. More attention needs to be paid to a theoretical analysis of housing law, especially in the light of growing legal regulation. Critical instrumentalism and discourse analysis offer possible alternatives to the usual pragmatic instrumental approach. Critical instrumentalism provides a historical understanding of legal rights and enables a reflection on the role of the law in promoting democratic accountability. Discourse analysis enables a reflection on the use of power and the conditions for the enforcement of the law. Critical instrumentalism and discourse analysis possess internal theoretical debates and also involve contrasting views of society. They may, however, be related to one another in a pragmatic search for a workable analytical framework.