Disputes

What does Naming mean in the Naming, Blaming, Claiming framework?

When an unperceived injurious experience becomes a perceived injurious experience.

What does Blaming add to the framework?

A perceived injury is transformed into a grievance, with fault attributed to a person or entity.

What happens in the Claiming stage?

A person with a grievance expresses it to the responsible party and asks for a remedy.

When does a grievance become a dispute?

When the claim is rejected in part or entirely.

Why do most injurious experiences never become disputes?

A: Because of attrition:

• Injuries are not perceived,

• Perceptions don’t ripen into grievances,

• Grievances are voiced privately but not to the responsible party.

Why would studying only disputes be sociologically insufficient?

Because most harms never reach the dispute stage, so examining only disputes misses how law/justice actually works in society.

How does the sociology of law view individuals’ role in legal activity?

Individuals are creators of opportunities for law — they bring law into action through their choices, grievances, and claims.

What are examples of “dispute institutions”?

Courts, therapy, fighting/violence, investigations, arbitration/mediation.

What critical questions does sociology of law ask about injuries?

Under what conditions are injuries perceived or unnoticed? Are these conditions shaped by race, gender, class, or politics?