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Legal Consciousness: Some Observations
Author(s) -
Cowan Dave
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2004.00518.x
Subject(s) - dignity , consciousness , assertion , legal consciousness , value (mathematics) , law , set (abstract data type) , social consciousness , political science , sociology , psychology , epistemology , philosophy , machine learning , computer science , programming language
This article argues that US studies of ‘legal consciousness’ have much to offer UK socio‐legal studies. It is, perhaps, surprising that so little attention has been paid to this set of understandings. I seek to rectify that imbalance in the transatlantic relationship by outlining legal consciousness and its critiques. I then draw on homelessness applicant interview data to discuss their ‘legal consciousness’, illustrating the importance of the value of dignity; how they make sense of their decisions; and the spaces in which legal consciousness may be produced. The study is a limited examination, but it enables us to question the assertion that welfare applicants ‘know the law’ and (ab‐)use it.