Реферат: The Paradox Of Community Essay Research Paper

The Paradox Of Community Essay, Research Paper

The Paradox of Community

?One can see that insiders are caught in the paradox of community: The

same cultural vocabulary that undermines community is simultaneously that

community’s idiom of self-affirmation? (Greenhouse, et al. 175). In Law and

Community, David M. Engel explores how ordinary people in a small, rural,

Illinois town perceive the law, courts, litigants, and community. By analyzing

the legal practices and relations in Sander County, it is evident that law and

the courts play a central role in the processes of making and unmaking

communities. Furthermore, this study illustrates how such manifestations,

reflections of the ?insider’s? ideology, fail to live up to the promises for ?

law? in our society.

In the 1970s, Sander County was undergoing great social and economic

changes. Agriculture, a central part of life for most residents, became more

mechanized and a few large manufacturing plants opened, bringing in ?quite a

number of a certain element? Sander County had ?never had before? (29). Long-

time residents, worried about change, express what they believe to be ?the new

role of laws and the courts in the local and national society? (1).

Though personal injury litigation rates are lower in Sander County than

other major types of litigation, a norm of aversion towards this legal discourse

is evident throughout the majority of the community. Those who enforce personal

injury claims are viewed by fellow residents as greedy, selfish, and ?quick to

sue.? Litigation is portrayed as weakening the collective values personified in

the law as a means of turning the law against the community to make an ?easy

buck? (144). Even highly respected members of the community are criticized for

making personal injury claims. For example, a minister filed a suit after

slipping and falling at a school. A local observer commented by saying there

are ?a lot of people who are resentful for it, because…he chose to sue? (28).

The long-time residents of Sander County were experiencing a prevalent sense of

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