TY - BOOK ID - 77903527 TI - The life of the law : anthropological projects PY - 2002 SN - 0520936183 1597347132 9780520936188 058546846X 9780585468464 9781597347136 0520229886 9780520229884 0520231635 9780520231634 PB - Berkeley : University of California Press, DB - UniCat KW - Law and anthropology. KW - Anthropology KW - Ethnological jurisprudence KW - Law and anthropology KW - Anthropology and law KW - 20th century. KW - american democracy. KW - anthropology. KW - business corporations. KW - civic. KW - corporate interests. KW - democracy. KW - dispute resolution. KW - economic justice. KW - globalization. KW - lawyers. KW - legal anthropologists. KW - legal anthropology. KW - legal history. KW - legal issues. KW - legislation. KW - mediation. KW - modern law. KW - neoliberal ideology. KW - plaintiffs role. KW - political activists. KW - power of the law. KW - role of the law. KW - social activists. KW - social change. KW - social justice. KW - social science. KW - united states. KW - us judicial system. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77903527 AB - Laura Nader, an instrumental figure in the development of the field of legal anthropology, investigates an issue of vital importance for our time: the role of the law in the struggle for social and economic justice. In this book she gives an overview of the history of legal anthropology and at the same time urges anthropologists, lawyers, and activists to recognize the centrality of law in social change. Nader traces the evolution of the plaintiff's role in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century and passionately argues that the atrophy of the plaintiff's power during this period represents a profound challenge to justice and democracy. Taking into account the vast changes wrought in both anthropology and the law by globalization, Nader speaks to the increasing dominance of large business corporations and the prominence of neoliberal ideology and practice today. In her discussion of these trends, she considers the rise of the alternative dispute resolution movement, which since the 1960's has been part of a major overhaul of the U.S. judicial system. Nader links the increasing popularity of this movement with the erosion of the plaintiff's power and suggests that mediation as an approach to conflict resolution is structured to favor powerful--often corporate--interests. ER -