Law's Dream of a Common KnowledgeIf knowledge is power, then the power of law can be studied through the lens of knowledge. This book opens up a substantive new area of legal research--knowledge production--and presents a series of case studies showing that the hybridity and eclecticism of legal knowledge processes make it unfruitful to ask questions such as, "Is law becoming more dominated by science?" Mariana Valverde argues that legal decision making cannot be understood if one counterposes science and technology, on the one hand, to common knowledge and common sense on the other. The case studies of law's flexible collage of knowledges range from determinations of drunkenness made by liquor licensing inspectors and by police, through police testimony in "indecency" cases, to how judges define the "truth" of sexuality and the harm that obscenity poses to communities. |
From inside the book
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... habit of looking for truth in a well does not mean, in Foucault's work or in mine, what it might mean for postmodern theorists who declare that there are no causes, that everything just happens, that we live in a meaningless flow. It is ...
... HABITS The questions about knowledge practices described thus far could be pursued across a large number of legal arenas, situations, and institu- tions. The particular areas that I have chosen as sites for both legal and empirical ...
... habit . Smoking one cigarette may be seen either as bad or as harmless , but either way it is not a vice . Only when ... habits in ways that do not incite us to label ourselves " addicts . " The superficial logic of habit is important ...
... habits . What is often derisively called " the gay lifestyle ” — and is usually called the gay community or the gay village by its members — is made up of philanthropic , political , and aesthetic habits . The group habits that are ...
... habit . " And when legal knowledge processes turn their attention to the habits and lifestyles of groups and communities — as well as the site - specific , temporary lifestyles of particular urban spaces , such as pubs on weekend ...
Contents
1 | |
9780691086989_3CH2 | 28 |
9780691086989_4CH3 | 54 |
9780691086989_5CH4 | 86 |
9780691086989_6CH5 | 112 |
9780691086989_7CH6 | 141 |
9780691086989_8CH7 | 167 |
9780691086989_9CH8 | 193 |
9780691086989_10CH9 | 222 |
9780691086989_11BIB | 229 |
9780691086989_12IND | 241 |