Codebook:

$ (dollar sign): Any reference to the cost of using the law (narrowly construed in terms
of the money, not emotional) sort of a sub-category of IE.

“…it would depend on the money I had to spend. Ya know if I could appeal it,
ya know, but um… I don’t… ya know I don’t know how much it would cost to
have the transcripts, ya know, copied, etc.” (1998:39)

ACCEPT: Resignation or acceptance of some state of affairs.

“Life is too short.”

ASSERT: Assertion of self in the face of opponent or interaction with others. Direct
interaction with others. Standing up for something or self. Seeing self as agent.
Cf, user who seeks help through other people or agents.

“Sir, if I need to protect myself, I will protect myself. I don’t need you to tell
me what to do.” (1855:42)

BUR: Any reference to the bureaucratic features of organizations, i.e. impersonality,

slowness, complexity. Any bureaucracy reference not a court.

“You can’t get a live person on the phone.” (3669:9)

CLASS: Any reference to the role or influence of social class.

“but I am not in a fancy neighborhood like short hills” (3083:7)

“I think its more of an interracial thing… its more people that’s concerned and
it’s a better, it’s a social thing, it’s a better class of people” (3083:51)

COLLECTIVE: Any reference to collective actions. (note: code even action never
taken, just contemplated).

CONNECT: Sense that world operates according to patronage networks, patronage,

informal relations, or “connections”.
 “They sent me a letter saying that I am in violation of this and that. I did what I
saw everybody else do. You know, the town employees pick up stuff for
friends. Since I’m not connected I get a letter in the mail.” (3669:14)

COP: Any reference to police, again with distinguishing what is said about the police.

CORRUPT: References to officials being on the take.

“I know the guy behind me told me we were rated tenth for corruption out of
all the cities in the state. I don’t really care if they’re corrupt, if they want to
keep a couple of thousand for themselves, I just want the town to be nice.”
(3669:3)

ECON: Any references to the economy as setting a content or explanation for what is
happening.

“It’s thousands of dollars to live here. It just stinks. You can’t sell your house
because the market is bad. You can’t get out of here.” (3669:1)

FAIR: Any reference to something being fair, unfair, just, unjust. E.g. “it’s just not
right that …”

“Sit there, sit there, nothing happens, then we have to come back next time.
Then the other people wouldn’t show up. It was like they were pulling your
chain all of the time. This is what they do for a living. It felt like it was unfair.”
(3669:4)

“One time we were late like paying our public service, bill, since we moved
here, and we had been with public service for over fifteen years and never had
any problems, and they were gonna, they sent us a notice saying they were
going to shut off our service… And I didn’t think it was fair for the first time in
all those years that we should get treated like that so, I found out who the
president of the public service was and I wrote him a letter…” (0211:9) [note
this should be coded for paper and top as well]

G/G: Gemeinschafft/Gesellschafft: References to the organization of the world – in

other words R mentions that people are no longer friendly, or that this is a very
friendly place. Or that the world is anonymous, impersonal…
 “I know that every one of the teachers and we have about 200 teachers and I
love them all.” (1387:7)

“… you know you don’t have friends you have associates… you can’t trust
people any more you just don’t know.” (3083:4)

GENDER: References to gender as an issue, in other words, that gender made a

difference, played a role, was important to the story being told.

GOLIATH: References to the disparity in resources of their opponents; some might

be organizational, or might be richer people. Sense that respondent sees self
as against more powerful others. These are expressions of inequality
specifically made in context of a battle or dispute or legal case (not just that
there are rich people and poor people)

“The interarts center somehow got a pro bono attorney from some major law
firm who just hit them with everything they had… volunteer lawyers they’re
basically letter writers you know.” (3817:129)

HUMOR: There are multiple indicators of humor. For example, the respondent
explicitly says it was so funny; or there is reference in the transcript to laughter.
It can also be more implicit, and from the text one can tell that the respondent
believes he/she is telling a funny story.

“And I thought it was a real hoot!” (3817:11)

“I mean the court was cracking up. This guy thought he was Perry Mason. You
had to see it to believe it. He was a professional too. He was a tax lawyer…”
(3669:7)

ID: Self-reference to the type of person one is; not implicit, not just any “I” statement,
but self-referential.

“I’ve done that, but I’ve just sent it back, I don’t have any, you know, problem
with that. I guess they assume a certain amount of people won’t be bothered,
but I always bother, if I don’t like it I just send it back.” (0211:7)

JUDGE: Any reference to judges, without distinguishing the content.

 “… we happened to end up with a judge who basically, um, was notorious for
being incredibly lazy. Wouldn’t hear it, when we tried to argue this right in the
beginning, to indicate that it could be resettled, wouldn’t hear the argument
and never bothered to read the papers.” (3817:109)

JURY: Any reference to juries. (Either as member, hearsay, opinions about, etc.)

LAW: Indicates that the respondent makes a characterization of the law, legal system,
describes “the law”.

“Yeah but its just a shame that its becoming such a litigious, ya know, a
society, ya know, I mean I happen to have some money and I can get a lawyer
everytime something goes wrong.” (1998:8)

LAWYERS: any reference to lawyers…

“The interarts center somehow got a pro bono attorney from some major law
firm who just hit them with everything they had… volunteer lawyers they’re
basically letter writers, you know.” (3817:129)

LENGTH: Claims indicating that the length of their relationship with other (even
organization) shapes how they should be treated, invested with rights. Claims
on others a function of time.

“One time we were late like paying our public service, bill, since we moved
here, and we had been with public service for over fifteen years and never had
any problem, and they were gonna, they sent us a notice saying they were
gonna shut off our service… And I didn’t think it was fair for the first time in all
those years that we should get treated like that so, I found out who the
president of the public service was and I wrote him a letter…” (0211:9) [note
that this should be coded for paper and top as well]

LIMITS: Talks about the capacity of law to change the situation recognizing its limits.

“In the end, courts never solve problems. It’s a mixed bag… the courts might
solve the dispute, but not solve the problem… so the water is contaminated,
so what do you do, the problem is not solved. The court has decided in your
favor… So what is the answer here.” (3421:4)
MEDIA: Any reference to using the media (press, tv, etc) in response to some dispute.
(see the schoolboard guy was going to “expose the corruption” by going to
the media.

MEDIATION: Any reference to mediation.

MORAL: Reference to a moral order. People’s morals or lack of them.

“It’s hard to put moral values into your kids.” (1256:2)

MYSITFY: Sense that the world is inexplicable, unknown or unknowable. Some sense
that there is a problem, but unable to confirm or determine exactly what is
happening; this is distinguished from shit happens because it describes a
particular situation which the R could not confirm how things were going
wrong.

“There’s nothing I can do, we really can’t dispute how many hours they work..
work and you just take their word.. you never know.. it’s an old trick I guess.”
(1855:24)

ORDEAL: References to legal processes or disputes as something to be endured.

Characterization of process differentiated from outcome, ie, may or may not
express faith or confidence in acceptable outcome.

“In the end, it always comes out, but in the mean time you always have to
suffer.” (3669:9)

“Listen, you know, cases like this are made up of an awful lot of hot air, and in
the end it gets sorted out, but meanwhile, you’ve got to fight it all” (3817:118)

PAPER: Paper as problem solver. Writing letters, filling written complaints. Examples
abound. Accounts may not enlighten or amuse, but their distribution,
frequency, role in dispute may be of interest. For instance, against whom are
letters written, in relation to certain kinds of problems? Are certain categories
of people more or less likely to use?

“One time were were late like paying our public service bill, since we moved
here, and we had been with public service for over fifteen years and never had
any problem, and they were gonna, they sent us a notice saying they were
 going to shut off the service… And I didn’t think it was fair for the first time in
all those years that we should get treated like that so, I found out who the
president of the public service was and I wrote him a letter…” (0211:9)

RACE: Any reference at all to race, explicit or implicit. Stories in which race is the
theme or issue, or characteristics of the persons meant to be highlighted.

READ: References to whether and with what effect someone reads texts, papers,
forms.

“… we happened to end up with a judge who basically, um, was notorious for
being incredibly lazy. Wouldn’t hear it, when we tried to argue this right in the
beginning, to indicate that it could never be settled, wouldn’t hear the
argument and never bothered to read the papers.” (3817:109)

“And, um, my company gave me the disability but the stte, um, I, I have
nothing but good things to say about the people that we call and talk to,
they’ve been very nice, very kind, very considerate, and very well mannered,
but, it’s like they don’t even read what you wrote on the uh, on the papers.”
(0211:16)

RELIGION: Reference to religion/God/supernatural agent.

REMEDY: A code indicating that a problem or dispute has been routinely and
expeditiously handled.

“A few times I would have my policies canceled without being notified. Ya

know, either, but I’ve moved around a lot, so it may be that it went to the
wrong address. But I would just call them up and get it reinstated.” (1998:9)

RESPONSIBLE: R accepts responsibility, and thus possible penalty; admits fault.

Something like self-reliant but specific interaction.

“Oh yeah I have problems, and there, they’re legitimate, they’re my fault, so I
don’t consider them problems, ya know, making rights on reds when I
shouldn’t” (1998:20)

RETALIATE: Respondent describes own concern about others getting back or

retaliating if the respondent takes action. Leaves open whether the others are
 organizations, neighbors, or legal officials. This may include a threat by
respondent to retaliate as well as fearing retaliation by others.

“Who am I going to complain to? They’d just make my life more miserable”
(3669:4)

RIGHTS: Reference to a right or having a right/s; sort of like fair but not so much as
assessment of a situation as something attached to, possession of, the
respondent (a person).

“So he told us we had to leave. And again we didn’t know what our rights were
so we packed up and left.” (1998:14)

ROLE: References to failure of role performance; don’t live up to role or exceed

expectations. Story of police harassment, misuse of office, R. Michaels
policeman changes story. Also includes instances where a person seems to
have gone our of their way – beyond the expected.

RULES: Any reference to rules, laws (as statutes, or rules) governing situations; that is,
characterizing the situation in terms of the rules – not necessarily just a
description that this or that rule said something but putting weight no it; e.g.
they change the rules on you, I never saw a law like that; insurance ran out and
I had to do such and such.

“I never seen a law where they do that” (3669:16)

“They changed the rules when I cut the tree down” (3669:14)

SELFR: Respondent voices the necessity of taking responsibility, take charge, watch
out for their own interests, and to fix mistakes even if others make them. This
may refer to the fact that others do not; it may refer to sense of what is
expected…

“You have to chase after them. They make mistakes and you gotta correct
them.” (3669:9)

“It’s their job, just like I have, my job to do. Its your responsibility. When I build
something for a guy he doesn’t have to stand there and say that I’m doing
something wrong. I am responsible for it.” (3669:9)
SHIT HAPPENS: People voice confidence that they have been victimized although
they cannot give an example.

SLOW: References to the slowness of the law specifically, not bureaucracies generally
(see Bur above for that). Any reference to the time law exacts – that it feels
costly, unfair, burdensome.

“Sit there, sit there, nothing happens, then we have to come back next time.
Then the other people wouldn’t show up. It was like they were pulling your
chain all of the time. This is what they do for a living. It felt like it was unfair.”
(3669:4)

SUBPLOT: Any little stories told as asides to illustrate some other point or story the
respondent is telling. Illustrations or similar situations, different situations that
are used to elaborate, extend, validate or contrast something else being told
about at that moment.

SUE: Reference to law suit, threatened or consummated, as either plaintiff, or

defendant

TALK: Any reference to orality – not writing – as a means or managing social

interaction; wanted to talk it over, wanted to negotiate, they wouldn’t even
talk about it.

TIME: References, sometimes implicit, to the effects of time, to the passage (not
necessarily effect) of time, to sequencing.

With regard to 3669, there is a repeated theme that he once was something
different than he now is; and moreover that how long he has been what he
now is matters, that he has been working at it for a while.

TMAKER: Troublemaker: References to troublemaking – either about others doing so

or the respondent as a troublemaker – self-identity or opinion of others. Being
cast in the role of

“… but I didn’t want to get the reputation of being a, ya know, cranky maniac
in the neighborhood.” (1998:4)

TOP: Going to the top in order to solve a problem.

 “… I called the police, and when the police just drove by and didn’t do
anything, I called the mayor personally, and ah, and it was taken care of.”
(0211:5)

TRUST: Some acknowledgement by respondent that they are relying on systems

working, not simply a story that shows reliance – use – of systems, e.g. cashing
checks, but a more explicit statement / acknowledgement that the R may not
know quite how it works but she uses it nonetheless and knows that it does.
This may also include some reference to the breakdown but not necessarily
included in the BUR code.

USER: Person uses 3rd party to intervene in life event, dispute, etc, seeking help, sees
self as needy, cf. assert.

“So I called up Judge H and I explained to him, because I knew him.. I had to
do that because you know you get to a point you have to show your children
or bring then down to their lowest level or something that you’re not going to
take anymore.” (3083:18)

URBAN: References to the fact their neighborhood (or perhaps another comparison
to theirs) is changing. References to neighborhood transitions.

“Not that I’d want to run away, but just, the neighborhood is going down hill…
Because there is an element moving from the north that I just don’t like.”
(3669:1)

“Younger families have moved in… I miss my old neighbors but they are nice
people.” (3083:1)

VALIDATE: Law, or a clear legal agent (e.g. judge, police, lawyer, regulatory agent)
affirms respondent’s position, story, claim. Not just whether they won, but
whether there is an affirmation of the perspective of the respondent. Because
respondent can win and still not be affirmed (e.g. artist case).

“… and he awarded me the divorce. He said there was no reason for me to

have to live under these conditions. It was more pleasant than I expected.”
(3833:11)
 “It left me with a good feeling. That I did do the right thing and that he
thought it was right also. Fun, I remember his exact words because it left a
lasting impression.” (3833:11)

VICTIM: Respondent explicitly presents self as victim of either particular others or

“the system” without specific reference to who is victimizing you.

“It just feels like you’re getting the shaft all the time.” (3669:1)

VIOL: VIOLENCE: Explicit references to violence.

“I was gonna tell him I’d shoot fireworks off of his mouth if I caught him doing
it again near my kittens…” (1998:4)

“Well if I catch somebody doing it I’ll, ya know, deal with it, ya know, probably
tell them that I’ll shoot them if I see them do it again, and give the dog to the
ASPCA.” (1998:4)

VARIETIES OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS:

CONF: CONFORMITY: Following legal rules, orders, procedures; acceptance of legal

constructions of social relations and situations. Does not necessarily believe in
the fairness or the outcomes but in the legal processes. May see self as legal
subject, rights bearer, procedural justice literature. Can be naïve a product of
faith, or may be informed, a product of experience.

IE: INSTRUMENTAL ENGAGEMENT: Outcome oriented; consists of an acceptance of

legal constructions for specified objectives. See law as one of several
resources; is less concerned about the appropriateness and legitimacy of legal
procedures than their availability and ability to achieve the desired purposes.
IE may be cynical, it may also be trusting.

TACTIC: Requires a recognition, revealed in practice or words, or law as a terrain of

power and a recognition of one’s location therein. A positive project of power
which engages with and seeks to reverse or modify the power it opposes, tries
to undermine the power they encounter. Poaching, appropriation and
incursions in spaces created by others. See Mrs. G, Foucault’s convict.
Milliesqye resistance opportunitistic; where respondent uses openings or
resources of others to gain for her/himself. What is gained may be affective or
 material. This affective part may overlap with play. Resistance may or may not
be progressive.

PLAY: Stories, anecdotes, or tales about ploys, dodges, and ruses that people use to
make and get their way. Play is to be distinguished from resistance more
generally insofar as 1) it is premised upon an awareness of the constructed and
manipulable nature of social life/organization – the way things work. 2) the
pleasure, humor derived from engaging in. (See Baktin, pg. 300 in Marxism and
Art)

“I had already decided that he probably wasn’t gonna pay me the $50 but I
would get the $50 of his time on the telephone. So, after about half an hour, he
was screaming and pulling his hair out, and he said, well, I’ll just gonna have to
see you in small claims, I knew he didn’t want to go, it was too small an amount
of money. So I said, that’s okay, you don’t have to do it, I got my $50 out of
you. And he said, is that what you were doing? And I said, yeah, I know what
lawyers are worth…” (3817:70)

EXIT: Involves the acceptance of legal constructions of trouble and dispute coupled
with a refusal or rejection of legal remedies. The refusal to use law is
predicated on the perceptions and assessment of how the legal system
operates, ie costs (broadly defined to include social, economic, psychic. These
persons exhibit some sense of themselves as legal subjects, but they hold the
law at bay.

TRANSCEND: Transcendence consists of the opposition or rejection of legal

constructions of trouble and the avoidance and disdain for legal remedies.
Transcendence is based on a rejection of law and or an affirmative commitment
to other ways of operating grounded in local cultures. Despite its location
outside of law those who enact this form of consciousness often morally
position themselves in relation to the law and derive meanings of self, other
and community from that remote position. Self defined in opposition to law.
Moral boundaries of the group, definitions of the good person, and the
meaning of their relationships are often dependent upon images of legal
alternatives not sought.