Law's dream of a common knowledge
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Law's dream of a common knowledge
(The cultural lives of law)
Princeton University Press, c2003
- : cloth
Available at 5 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-240) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
If 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. Valverde emphasizes that the types of knowledge that circulate in such legal arenas consist of "facts," values, and codes from numerous incompatible sources that combine to produce interesting hybrids with wide-ranging legal and social effects.
Drawing on Foucaultian and other analytical tools, she cogently demonstrates that different modes of knowledge, and hence various forms of power, coexist happily. Law's Dream of a Common Knowledge underlines the importance of analyzing dynamically how knowledge formation works. And it helps us to better understand the workings of power and resistance in a variety of contemporary contexts. It will interest scholars and students from disciplines including law, sociology, anthropology, history, and science-and-technology studies as well as those concerned with the particular issues raised by the case studies.
Table of Contents
*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Acknowledgments, pg. ix*CHAPTER ONE. Introduction, pg. 1*CHAPTER TWO. The Art of Drawing the Line: Judicial Knowledges of Community Morality and Community Harms, pg. 28*CHAPTER THREE. The Forensic Gaze: Law's Search for Moral Clues, pg. 54*CHAPTER FOUR. Beyond Sexuality?, pg. 86*CHAPTER FIVE. "The Lifestyle That Fits the Doctrine of Sexual Orientation", pg. 112*CHAPTER SIX. Police Science, British Style: Pub Licensing and Knowledges of Urban Disorder, pg. 141*CHAPTER SEVEN. "Common Knowledge Must Enter the Equation Somewhere": Knowledge as Responsibility, pg. 167*CHAPTER EIGHT. Racial Masquerades: White Inquiries into "the Indian Style of Life", pg. 193*CHAPTER NINE. Conclusion, pg. 222*Bibliography, pg. 229*Index, pg. 241
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