Law, Culture, and Family: The Transformative Power of Culture and the Limits of Law

22 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2015

See all articles by Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy E. Dowd

University of Florida Levin College of Law

Date Written: 2003

Abstract

Law inevitably is involved in the resolution of cultural conflicts. Nonintervention acts as powerfully as intervention; in either case, law is a powerful actor in its role as a part of cultural dialogue, as well as in its role as a coercive force. Law is never neutral in my view. If it “stays out” of a situation, then it is complicit in the status quo or in permitting the conflict to be resolved without legal intervention, which may weight the outcome in a particular direction. If law “comes in,” it similarly “sides” with a particular position because, in part, our adversarial, either/or, dichotomous orientation tends toward a winner and a loser, rather than a win-win situation.

Suggested Citation

Dowd, Nancy Elizabeth, Law, Culture, and Family: The Transformative Power of Culture and the Limits of Law (2003). 78 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 785 (2003), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2666039

Nancy Elizabeth Dowd (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States
352-273-0930 (Phone)
352-392-3005 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/nancy-e-dowd

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