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3 Rsch. L. &. Soc'y 25 (1980)
Reification in Legal Reasoning

handle is hein.journals/slps3 and id is 43 raw text is: REIFICATION IN LEGAL REASONING Peter Gabel Legal reasoning is an inherently repressive form of interpretive thought which limits our comprehension of the social world and its possibilities. This interpretive thought emerges within consciousness at moments of uncertainty about the legitimacy of the concrete world within which we find ourselves, and its function is to institutionalize-with the help of such overpowering psychological symbols as robed judges, quasi-ecclesiastical schools, the Profession, and the Tribunal-the boundaries of a legitimate rationality. It is therefore incorrect to say, as does the instrumentalist, that legal rules and principles directly serve the interests of the dominant class by bringing about certain consequences in the socioeconomic order. Legal outcomes have only the most marginal effect on the movement of socioeconomic processes and social actors who have been conditioned to accept the apparent necessity of these processes do not require anything so abstract as legal rules to shape and direct their daily conduct. It is closer to the truth to say that it is action which has an instrumental Research in Law and Sociology, Volume 3, pages 25-51. Copyright © 1980 by JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-89232-186-5 25

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