Law in Contemporary Society

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DoYouDoAnythingDifferently 1 - 10 Apr 2009 - Main.JustinChung
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>		Inspired by the tough love discussion and trying to come up with an idea for a second paper, I started thinking about what effect this class has on people. Unlike classes which focus primarily on learning something, the point of this class seems to be to get you to do something. We've talked extensively about what motivates people's actions (legal reasoning, social roles in swindling and selling, conspicuous consumption) with the implication that we should use these ideas and frameworks to examine our own lives. Does anyone actively do this? How have people found themselves thinking about and responding to certain situations differently as compared to before taking this course? Have people watched less TV, or made different choices about summer jobs, or approached other classes in different ways? I've often wondered about what effect adding some basic knowledge of psychological or sociological theories has on people going forward, and the experience of people in this class seems like it would be a good study of that.

For my own part, I'll admit that I don't feel like I act or think differently in any significant way. I mostly accept that to a large degree the teaching aspect of law school has been swallowed by the needs of employers and that the "biglaw" firm system severely devalues young lawyers, but aside from snickering at the repeated use of "cast a wide net" at the EIP presentation and being a bit more exasperated at the continuing assurances that it'll all be ok in two years I don't think I really do anything differently. In other classes I don't consider how this opinion is full of legal nonsense or feel that everyone is continually restricted by competitive pressure. This isn't to say I don't think about these topics, just that it seems like when I do it's mostly confined to being in, talking about, and doing work for this class.

I have found that I am paying more attention to the way people speak though, especially in contrast to the way they write. The class has certainly made me more aware of how people can act extremely differently in different situations.

-- JustinChung - 10 Apr 2009


Revision 1r1 - 10 Apr 2009 - 22:54:02 - JustinChung
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