# Introduction to the Special Issue: Social Control, Housing and the Law

## TL;DR

This special issue examines how laws influence housing and social control, exploring four key scenarios across different regions.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a socio-legal framework to analyze the dual role of law in housing-related social control.

## Key findings

- Law functions both as a tool and a constraint for social control in housing contexts.
- Four distinct scenarios of housing and social control are identified and analyzed.
- Case studies from multiple continents highlight the global relevance of the issue.

## Abstract

In this special issue on housing and social control, we explore the relationship between these two concepts through a socio-legal perspective. We investigate how law plays a role in shaping and assessing the connection between housing and social control, by, on the one hand, serving as an instrument of social control, and, on the other hand, acting as a limitation on the ability to impose social control. In addition to this dual function of the law, we identify four scenarios where social control and housing intersect, ranging from the complete absence of housing, to access to, occupation of and eviction from housing. The contributions to the special issue have a wide geographical scope (including case studies from Europe, America, Africa and Australia); each deals with one or more of these four scenarios, and they each underline one or both of the two functions of law as regards social control.