Реферат: The Paradox Of Community Essay Research Paper

lamented, ?…it wasn’t the money…but because of the principle of it that I

would definitely go to whatever means necessary…to get it collected? (50).

Contract litigation contrasts from tort litigation in that it is perceived as

inciting a central value of the established culture of Sander County (50). This

value prescribes that covenants should be kept and those who break them should

be held accountable. Opposition in the marketplace is for insiders a justified

manifestation of individualism (4). Consequently, litigation is relevant in

community terms when it is agreeable with the norms of local trade.

Litigiousness, or lack thereof, is an important signifier of distinctive

classifications of appropriate and inappropriate court use. These

classifications are ?a part of the cultural fabric of the community itself?

(120).

The dubious disposition of the law as representative of core values and

concurrently as indicator of difference in Sander County makes the courthouse an

effectual place of endeavor for ?those who would transform community? (147).

The court is a chief symbol of community and ?the epitome of local identity?

(141). Nothwithstanding, it is an ambiguous symbol. On the one hand, it

exemplifies local autonomy and conservatism. On the other, it signifies ?the

reach of the state into the fabric of local society? (1). The insiders

simultaneously condemn and celebrate forms of individualism that are seen as

destructive of community yet are also essential for its existence. Sander

County is an example of the ?American myth of a fundamentally egalitarian ethic

of community responsibility,? and ideology where getting along is commended, but

only the tough and self-reliant can get along (151). This democratic notion of

community paradoxically suggests a hierarchy of those who are important

(insiders) and those who are not (outsiders). Community is seen as a ?matter of

choice? (17). However, only certain people have the ability to make this choice.

?…One can see that insiders are caught in the paradox of community? (175).

The analyses of the legal practices and relations in Sander County