Constitution, law and social change
Definition of Law
Law is a set of rules created and enforced by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior.
Law as an Agent of Social Change
Law maintains unity and integration in India's diverse society.
It provides a formal framework for social reform, justice, and inclusion
Constitutional Morality – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Constitutional morality refers to a commitment to the core principles and values enshrined in the Constitution, beyond mere legalistic obedience. It implies a moral compass for both the government and citizens to navigate complex social realities, ensuring peaceful coexistence, equity, and justice in a pluralistic society. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, viewed constitutional morality as the soul of democratic governance, essential for India’s transition from a society rooted in hierarchical traditions to one based on liberty, equality, and fraternity.
At its core, constitutional morality sets standards for governance. It provides a normative foundation that ensures the spirit of the Constitution guides institutional conduct and policy-making. Ambedkar emphasized that without constitutional morality, the very framework of democracy could collapse under the weight of social divisions and majoritarian tendencies. Thus, constitutional morality holds legislators and institutions accountable to both legal text and moral intent.
One of the key functions of constitutional morality is upholding the rule of law. In a society as diverse and complex as India, it ensures that legal authority remains supreme, even as social norms and aspirations evolve. It acts as a balancing force between traditional cultural values and modern constitutional ideals, ensuring progressive governance that respects both heritage and human rights.
Equally important is its role in encouraging people’s participation in democratic processes. Constitutional morality nurtures public trust in institutions by promoting transparency, inclusivity, and engagement. Citizens are empowered to collectively strive for constitutional goals, making democracy a lived experience rather than a procedural formality.
Furthermore, constitutional morality serves as a powerful driver of social change. By aligning law with constitutional ethics, it enables the transformation of regressive social practices. A striking example is the abolition of Sati through legal reform, which upheld a widow’s right to life and dignity, challenging entrenched patriarchal customs.
An inclusive society is also a direct outcome of constitutional morality. It respects India's plurality—of religion, language, caste, gender, and sexual orientation—and ensures that evolving identities and rights are acknowledged. The landmark Supreme Court judgment in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India exemplifies this. By decriminalizing homosexuality, the Court reaffirmed the right to dignity, liberty, and identity for LGBTQ+ persons, marking a significant shift in societal morality through constitutional reasoning.
Constitutional morality is deeply embedded in the Indian Constitution. The Preamble articulates its foundational values—justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity. Fundamental Rights (Articles 12–35) guarantee individual freedoms, while the Directive Principles of State Policy guide the state towards socio-economic justice. Additionally, Fundamental Duties enjoin citizens to uphold and propagate constitutional values, thus creating a symbiotic relationship between state and society.
Law and Social Change
Law is not merely a codified set of rules; in a democratic society, it emerges as one of the most potent instruments for initiating and sustaining social change. In the Indian context, law plays a transformative role, bridging the gap between tradition and modernity, and enabling historically marginalized communities to assert their rights and dignity. As an agent of reform, the law reflects the collective will to move beyond dogmas, prejudices, and exploitative social structures.
In a liberal democracy like India, law empowers the common citizen to challenge entrenched inequalities and hierarchies. It becomes a weapon against social evils such as caste-based discrimination, gender bias, and religious intolerance. For instance, Article 17 of the Constitution abolishes untouchability, providing legal sanction against caste oppression. This constitutional provision was further enforced by the Untouchability Offences Act (1955), marking a critical intervention in dismantling caste-based prejudices in both rural and urban landscapes.
The Indian Constitution itself acts as a dynamic catalyst for social change. By ensuring equality before the law and prohibiting discrimination on grounds of caste, gender, or religion, it lays the foundation for an egalitarian society. The Directive Principles of State Policy further guide the state in implementing affirmative action and social welfare policies aimed at uplifting the oppressed. Laws such as the National Commission for Minorities Act and the Forest Rights Act for tribal communities exemplify how constitutional directives can be translated into tangible legal protections for vulnerable groups.
Legal reforms in India have been particularly impactful for certain target groups—Dalits, women, tribal communities, and the economically disadvantaged. Through legal mechanisms, these communities have gained access to rights, representation, and recourse against injustice, which was historically denied to them.
Sociologist Yogendra Singh identifies three vital functions of law in promoting social change:
Indicator of Change – Laws reflect evolving social values and the moral compass of society.
Initiator of Change – Law can instigate changes in institutional behavior and societal attitudes.
Integrator of Change – Legal norms unify diverse social groups under a common national framework, promoting unity in diversity.
Law also facilitates change across multiple dimensions:
Ideological Change
Legal awareness fosters rational thinking and a questioning attitude towards outdated customs and superstitions. This ideological shift is essential for building a progressive society based on reason and justice.
Political Change
The Constitution introduces modern political values like secularism, social justice, and fundamental freedoms. Articles 29 and 30, which safeguard the cultural and educational rights of minorities, exemplify how legal provisions protect India’s pluralistic ethos.
Economic Change
Legislations have catalyzed industrialization, urbanization, and economic planning. For example, Land Reforms Acts in the 1950s restructured rural property relations, while the FRBM Act (2003) promoted fiscal discipline in public finance.
Social Change
Laws targeting social evils have played a crucial role in redefining gender roles and family relations. The Anti-Dowry Act and Hindu Code Bills are key examples of how law intervened to promote gender justice and equality within personal spheres.
Environmental Change
The law has also emerged as a critical force in addressing ecological degradation. Acts like the Environment Protection Act (1986) and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1974) have not only regulated industrial pollution but also enabled the creation of monitoring institutions like Pollution Control Boards, shifting the development paradigm towards sustainability.
Law as an Influencer of Legal Reforms Due to Social Change
Law does not only act upon society; it also responds to society. As social structures, values, and aspirations evolve, legal frameworks are compelled to adjust accordingly. Legal reforms are often triggered by transformative social changes in domains like gender relations, work, demography, kinship, and technology. In this sense, law becomes both a mirror and a mechanism of societal progression, ensuring that formal legal norms remain relevant in a dynamic society.
One of the most visible arenas of legal reform influenced by social change is gender. As awareness about gender justice and diversity has grown, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ rights, the Indian legal system has been forced to respond. A landmark reform was the decriminalization of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era law that criminalized homosexuality. The 2018 Supreme Court judgment in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India was not merely a legal verdict—it was a reflection of changing social attitudes toward sexual identity and a broader acceptance of gender plurality.
In the realm of work, social transformations such as increasing female participation in the workforce and the rise of the service sector necessitated new legal safeguards. Workplace harassment, previously normalized or overlooked, came under legal scrutiny due to sustained activism and societal awareness. The enactment of the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013, marked a pivotal reform, institutionalizing protections against patriarchal exploitation in professional spaces.
Demographic changes have also significantly influenced legal reforms. Changing views on mental health, suicide, and population dynamics prompted a legal response. The decriminalization of suicide, under the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, recognized suicide as a health issue rather than a criminal act, reflecting the growing societal understanding of mental illness. Similarly, the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, was enacted to combat the dangerous trend of sex-selective abortions due to the preference for male children, a problem tied to regressive socio-cultural attitudes.
Interestingly, law also operates as a bulwark against negative social changes. While society may advance in many ways, certain regressive patterns emerge, necessitating corrective legislation. For instance, anti-narcotics laws are designed to mitigate the rise of drug abuse and associated anomie in urban youth. Likewise, the PCPNDT Act continues to be a legal tool against a worsening sex ratio in some regions, serving as a constraint against harmful practices disguised as modernization.
The domain of kinship has undergone noticeable changes with the rise of nuclear families, single-parent households, and late marriages. These shifts have led to debates around marriageable age, particularly the proposal to make the legal age of marriage equal for boys and girls. These changes reflect a broader transformation in family structures and values, which in turn demand updated legal norms that are more egalitarian and gender-neutral.
Among tribal communities, law has responded to their aspirations for development and inclusion. As G.S. Ghurye noted, the tribal population is not static; it increasingly participates in mainstream education, employment, and political life. Legal provisions like reservations for Scheduled Tribes in jobs, education, and parliamentary representation ensure that this integration is fair and affirmative, preserving their identity while enabling socio-economic advancement.
Lastly, the rapid advancement of technology in the context of Industry 4.0 has created new legal challenges. The global patenting of indigenous knowledge by foreign entities—such as the case of turmeric and Basmati rice—spurred the Indian government to strengthen its patent laws, ensuring protection for traditional knowledge and bio-resources. This response underlines how social change driven by technological innovation requires corresponding legal frameworks to safeguard national interests.
In conclusion, law is deeply interwoven with social change—not just as a driver, but as a respondent. As Indian society continues to evolve, whether through movements for gender justice, changes in family patterns, digital revolutions, or tribal inclusion, the law must reform to remain relevant. In this sense, legal reform is a dynamic dialogue between the normative aspirations of society and the institutional mechanisms of the state.
Challenges with Law as an Agent of Social Change
While law has immense potential to function as a catalyst for social reform, its effectiveness in bringing about meaningful change is riddled with structural, ideological, and practical challenges. The Indian experience, marked by deep-rooted inequality and cultural diversity, demonstrates that legal enactment does not necessarily guarantee social transformation. A variety of critical perspectives, from Marxist thought to grassroots activism, reveal the limitations and contradictions in using law as an agent of social change.
From a Marxist perspective, law is seen as a tool of the ruling class, embedded in the ideological superstructure of society. It often reinforces the status quo rather than challenging it. Far from being neutral or emancipatory, legal systems tend to favor the dominant class interests, sidelining the marginalized. The Kalahandi Child Selling Case starkly exemplifies this contradiction—where extreme poverty led mothers to sell their children for survival, exposing the inability of legal safeguards to address structural deprivation.
Accessibility to law remains another major hurdle. Sociologists like Upendra Baxi and Govind Mishra argue that legal institutions in India are largely inaccessible to the poor and underprivileged. The language of law, the cost of legal representation, and the procedural delays disproportionately affect those without education, wealth, or social capital. For millions of Indians, especially those in rural and marginalized communities, the law exists more on paper than in practice.
The lack of political will further weakens the transformative capacity of law. Laws, no matter how progressive, require effective implementation, public awareness, and institutional commitment. In the absence of these, they often become symbolic gestures rather than instruments of change. This gap is visible in numerous legislations which, despite their intent, remain poorly enforced or largely ignored.
Amartya Sen brings attention to the link between poverty and silence. He observes that poverty renders people incapable of asserting their rights or seeking legal redress. Hunger, illiteracy, and disempowerment mute the voices of the oppressed, making legal empowerment an abstract goal in the absence of basic entitlements.
The issue of displacement and power imbalance is especially pertinent in tribal regions. Activists like Ramachandra Guha and Upendra Baxi argue that liberty is a hollow concept for many tribal communities facing displacement due to development projects. The Narmada Bachao Andolan is a telling example where displaced tribals had to wait weeks just to speak to a government official—highlighting the bureaucratic apathy and systemic injustice within the legal framework.
Implementation failure is another persistent challenge. Progressive laws such as the Bonded Labour Abolition Act often remain confined to legal texts. Sociologist Vijayalakshmi’s study of housemaids from Bihar working in Delhi shows that bonded labour continues unabated in urban India, despite legal prohibition—demonstrating the yawning gap between legislation and reality.
Furthermore, there exists a conflict between the normative goals of the state and the cultural practices of society. The Indian state, through its legal apparatus, promotes values such as secularism, equality, and rationality. However, large sections of society remain deeply religious and traditional, resisting laws that appear to undermine customary practices. This state-society dichotomy hampers the internalization of legal norms.
Sociologist Andre Beteille aptly captures this tension by stating, “Law determines the direction society should go, but social structure determines the direction it actually goes.” Legal provisions may aspire toward egalitarianism, but entrenched social hierarchies and administrative indifference often derail these goals. In societies where caste, gender, and economic inequalities are deeply institutionalized, law alone cannot overcome structural resistance.