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The Power of Second‐Order Legal Consciousness: Authorities’ Perceptions of “Street Policy” and Welfare Fraud Enforcement
Author(s) -
Headworth Spencer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/lasr.12470
Subject(s) - law enforcement , enforcement , perception , law , order (exchange) , power (physics) , political science , business , public relations , psychology , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Legal authorities’ second‐order legal consciousness—their perceptions of others’ understandings of law—shapes the social realization of legal power. Analysis of interviews with welfare fraud enforcement workers from five US states reveals their perceptions of how clients view law, policy, and enforcement practices, and shows these perceptions’ consequences. Enforcement workers’ perceptions influence the discretionary work of policy implementation, as fraud workers attempt to circumvent what they see as clients’ evasive maneuvers and act in ways they believe will influence clients’ thinking and behavior. Fraud workers’ second‐order legal consciousness can also influence welfare law, when their perceptions of clients’ understandings and behaviors drive changes in written rules. Together, these effects demonstrate the power of authorities’ second‐order legal consciousness to affect both law in action and law in books. Through documenting the impact of authorities’ second‐order legal consciousness, this study fills an important gap in social scientific knowledge of how ongoing, dynamic processes of assessing others’ thinking and responding accordingly shape law‐infused environments.