The tendency towards juridification is taking place within a more general process whose essential milestones of social and institutional dynamics it marks. And yet it is correct to talk about juridification when this tendency becomes so relevant, in modern societies, as to generate a veritable proliferation of written law. Correlative to, and consequent upon, the process of juridification is its extension to a sphere of activity that was previously regulated informally and has subsequently become subject to legal regulation. The specialised legal codification of social relationships that are global de facto takes place during a further phase of development of this process, taking the form of the “coagulation of law”. Taking his inspiration from the theory of communicative action, the author examines the rise, the consolidation and the proliferation of the process of juridification, aiming to understand whether and how this tendency has favoured the emergence and the institutional definition of claims coming from the real world, and whether, at the current stage of this process, such claims can still be promoted or whether it might not be preferable to move in the opposite direction, i.e. towards a degree of de-juridification.
Keywords: Juridification - Organisation - Welfare state - System