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9 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 1 (1993-1994)
Controlling Processes in the Practice of Law: Hierachy and Pacification in the Movement to Re-Form Dispute Ideology

handle is hein.journals/ohjdpr9 and id is 37 raw text is: THE OHIO STATE JOURNAL ON DISPUTE RESOLUTION Volume 9 1993 Number 1 Controlling Processes in the Practice of Law: Hierarchy and Pacification in the Movement to Re-Form Dispute Ideology' LAURA NADER* I. INTRODUCTION Since 1976 I have examined the movement to re-form dispute ideology in the United States. Two aspects of my work have demonstrated 1) the existence and force of the movement to trade justice for harmony in legal practice and 2) the ideological nature of the movement, as demonstrated by numerous studies, which show both that the litigation explosion was an ideological construct, and that Alternative Dispute Resolution is not a universally desired improvement, but rather an often coercive mechanism of pacification. In this paper I ask a new question: Why did (do) members of the legal elite accept this ideological take-over of their profession with such equanimity?' While in previous work I examine harmony ideology at work on unsuspecting citizens, I will argue in this article that harmony ideology - the use of a rhetoric of peace through consensus - finds fertile ground within the legal profession through cultural control. Social control relates to intense influence, working extraordinarily long hours with little contact with the outside world, and also focuses on hierarchy: The Chief Justice does not have to present evidence for lawyers to believe him. Social and cultural power mechanisms amount to controlling processes. Such control mechanisms have received inadequate attention both within and without the legal profession. In the United States, we have constitutional laws to protect us from overt acts of domination, and we * 1993 Schwartz Lecture on Dispute Resolution at The Ohio State University College of Law. ** Laura Nader is a Professor of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley. 1. This question was first posed in a talk I presented to the 45th Annual Judicial Conference of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Jackson, Mississippi, April 20, 1988. I acknowledge with gratitude the help of colleagues and students - and in particular the eagle eye of lawyer-anthropologistEllen Hertz - in clarifying the ideas in this paper.

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