Sociology
Common knowledge and ideological critique: The significance of knowing that the "haves" come out ahead
Document Type
Article
Abstract
In 1974, Marc Galanter published a paper entitled “Why the ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change” in which he analyzed the limits of a legal system, such as that of the United States, to achieve redistributive outcomes. He traced the limits to features of the U.S. legal system's “basic architecture.” The specific features to which he referred were a series of structural dualisms or institutional contradictions that permitted symbolic claims to universalism, public authority, and equality to coexist with particularism, private power, and inequality.
Publication Title
Law and Society Review
Publication Date
1999
Volume
33
Issue
4
First Page
1025
Last Page
1041
ISSN
0023-9216
DOI
10.2307/3115157
Keywords
United States legal system
Repository Citation
Ewick, Patricia and Silbey, Susan S., "Common knowledge and ideological critique: The significance of knowing that the "haves" come out ahead" (1999). Sociology. 54.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_sociology/54