Workshop on: "Legal Cynicism, Trust, and Legitimacy: Linking Micro and Macro Processes in the Study of Crime and the Rule of Law"

Why do some people trust the law while others question its legitimacy? Research on legal cynicism has advanced knowledge on why some people have internalised social norms about collective moral rules, whereas for others legal norms are not morally binding. In recent years, legal cynicism has been connected to other socio-legal paradigms, including legal socialisation and procedural justice theory. Yet three key areas remain underdeveloped: the extent to which macro-level structure and micro-level mechanisms can be properly linked; the mechanisms through which legal cynicism is developed across the life course; and the degree to which historical social change contributes to individuals’ legitimacy judgements. This workshop brings together scholars from different disciplines and areas of expertise to address such questions.

First, we place theorising and research on legal cynicism in dialogue with analytical sociology’s emphasis on mechanisms (Hedström & Bearman, 2009). We aim to specify the emergent mechanisms through which cynicism becomes cultural, the contextual mechanisms through which this cultural frame influences individual beliefs and behaviour, the micro-foundations through which cynicism shapes individual action, and the emergent mechanisms through which individual behaviour leads to macro phenomena. This addresses a persistent gap in socio-legal research by going beyond macro-level associations to specify the mechanisms underlying them.

Second, we discuss the development and persistence of legal cynicism through the lens of life-course criminology (Sampson & Laub, 1993). Rather than treating legal cynicism as static, we conceptualise it as a developmental process shaped by cumulative experiences across the life course. Through legal socialisation, individuals develop expectations about the law during formative periods that can crystallize into persistent cognitive frames. This theme examines timing, dose, and trajectory of experiences and asks why legal cynicism becomes persistent.

Third, we connect legal cynicism to large-scale social change. Recent evidence suggests cynicism may be decoupling from local neighbourhood conditions and becoming a broader societal phenomenon, driven by political polarisation, declining institutional confidence, and sudden disruptions. Generalised trust has declined in parallel, pointing toward a broader erosion of the social fabric. This theme examines how historical social change activates age-graded processes of cynicism and distrust across generations.

The workshop will feature original empirical and theoretical contributions with dedicated discussion sessions. By integrating micro-macro mechanisms, life-course processes, and macro-historical change, our goal is to produce an agenda for the next generation of socio-legal research on legal cynicism, with implications for access to justice across diverse societies.