chapter 8 - reflecting on laws image Flashcards
what type of economy become present within the 21st century
winner takes all economy
what did the “winner take all” economy encompass?
- perpetuated the values and the beliefs about what makes someone successful (the “american dream and the land of the people”)
- the only way to be successful is through monetary valuables and assets
what is the neoliberal perspective?
deals with the political and economic order that emphasizes the importance of free market capitalism and reducing gov intervention in the economy
- values ind freedom over collectivity and sees the market as best way to allocate resources and grow
- reflected in the laws and policies
what has much of the law and society field engaged in due to the impact of neoliberal perspective?
post mortum for progressive social change
what is post motrum
analysis of an. event or process after it has ended or failed
- evaluate what went well and what didn’t, -
- identify and learn for areas for improvement
have some people been turning away from researching, analyzing and critiquing the limits of and possible strategies for effective legal reform?
yes
- possible reasons being not having the tools to help, person risks and long term challenges
what is the cultural turn?
shows how culture shapes law and society
- cultural practices and meanings and embedded in social structures
- culture is always changing all influenced by historical, social and political contexts
- focuses on subjective experience of law and culture and how they interpret it
- how law is found in cultural images and practices
Austin Sarat said that we have “law in the ____, law in _____ and now law in the ____”
what does this mean?
books, action and image
- need to look at cultural understandings of the law
- cultural images are form of law
historically what did the concept of culture represent?
justify racists and colonial practices
what is the definition of culture in the textbook>
any set of shared, signifying practices which are produced, performed or transformed
what are the 3 tracts to the study of law and culture by Mezey?
- power of law over culture
- power of culture over law
- law as culture as law
what does power of law over culture entail?
legal rules and the overall structure are everywhere and shape our social practices, identities and cultural meanings
eg. property laws structure class relations and distribution of wealth
what does the power of culture over law entail
the idea that there are customs, unofficial official rules or practices that trump over formal law
- there are certain things within a culture that becomes the norm even when there are rules or laws that can trump it but doesn’t
eg. there is the legal speed limit and the norm that people always go over (discretionary power if people want to enforce something that has become normal)
what does law as culture as law entail?
focuses on the dynamic and constitutive relationship between culture and law and not see them as separate
eg. man complained to grievance system about broken cookie and won the case
- this matter became cultural code within the staff to show what is wrong with this system
why does this example matter?
shapes their practices and why they will do when coming face to face with prisoner grievances in which they a lot of them
shows that what people believe and say is taken over that actual objectiveness of something
(was there acc a broken cookie)
why is a cultural turn needed now?
we used to live in a social environment where there was growth in welfare state, public services and social scientist were active in research
now things have become privatized, social scientist discredited and all thinsg questioned
why can a cultural turn be seen as a turn inward?
it is turning towards the study of image, subjectivity and consciousness
shows that power can also reside in other things besides legal system or other institutions
how is law portrayed within films
how the law is portrayed in films depends on the culture and the context
- the law depicted in the shows and the cultural context enhance, reproduce and show that they go hand in hand
eg. law is shown through the prison staff in orange is the new black as authoritarian, sadistic and greedy
what did stewart macaulay say about culture?
it is not a tangible thing but ideas in ppls head and stock of symbols and stories recognized by some members of the group
what in films and movies parallel to embody and evoke legal meaning?
the structure and storyline (plot, characters, settings and events) are in sync of how the legal system and trial proceedings work(become homonyms)
what did kennedy focus on?
ways in which disempowered groups can transform their positions though exploiting the counterhegemonic power of cultural images
-
what is his idea of the madonna phenomena?
madonnas in your face sexuality inverts tradition power relationship
- madonna dresses to evoke image of a women who has sexual autonomy and has her own pleasures from the objectified female
why was he highly criticized for this?
- questioning his right as a hetero white man to speak on behalf of women and POC
what are critical cultural studies of law?
examines the relationship between law, culture, society and power
- how law reflects cultural norms and values, role of maintaining social inequality and oppression
what did volpp say were the 3 results for the reason as to why culture is ascribed to immigrant others and not white americans (uses cultural as a way to excuse behaviour but when white americans engage it is not due to culture)
- exaggerated perception of cult diff that equates it with moral diff from us
- white people are ind actors and people of colour are members if groups
- irreconciliable tension assumed to exists between racialized immigrants and us
what does this narrative do?
exaggerate our diff
obscure the dynamics of power
lead to unjust polices and laws
