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FarayiMafotiFirstPaper 5 - 19 May 2010 - Main.FarayiMafoti
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | tangential account of his central ideas. | |
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< | Thurman Arnold contends that many American institutions contain ceremonial practices which, however emotionally appealing they are to our sense of security, are not functional. He writes, when men choose to act in conjunction, they develop organizations which are held together by traditions and an institutional creed. This creed can only be effective, however, if it undertakes to reconcile the conflicting ideals that are held by the members of the organization. Conflicting ideals and contradictions are befuddling to the traditionalist craving security and so they must be concealed by the ceremony, "the little pictures," which dramatize reality, painting an illusory scheme in which everything seems harmonious. Ceremonies prevent us from criticizing our political institutions because they put us in a state of passive | >
> | Thurman Arnold contends that many American institutions contain ceremonial practices which, however emotionally appealing they are to our sense of security, are not functional. He writes, when men choose to act in concert, they develop organizations which are held together by traditions and an institutional creed. This creed can only be effective, however, if it undertakes to reconcile the conflicting ideals that are held by the members of the organization. The creed then "must be false" - inconsistent per se. Social consolation can therefore only be sustained if the inconsistency is concealed by a ceremony, "the little pictures," which shape and mask reality rather than describe it. One need only look to the American legal system to find ceremonial excesses at work. Since time immemorial, men have believed that their own freedoms are intertwined with the freedom of industrial organizations from despotic restraint and yet that has not prevented corporate officials from imposing despotic regimes over their employees. The courts, under the mantle of the Constitution, have continued to disguise the sordid practices of huge corporations using abstract concepts such as freedom of contract, which are emotionally satisfying to the vast majority of us. Arnold's general project here is to reconcile the study of law in action with law in the books (Law Enforcement – An Attempt at Social Dissection). In other words, he wants to bridge the gap between what is preached by the courts and what is practiced, ushering a legal framework that is not preoccupied simply with the production of politically informed concepts and abstract principles but rather one that is relevant to the realities that reside in the knowable world. From there, Arnold's discourse takes a decidedly morose turn as he acknowledges the impossibility of people disregarding the charade. In this paper, I will assert that Arnold's work amounts to a cynical exercise; it encourages recognition of the folklore but recommends that we operate within it in order to accomplish functional goals.
As creatures of habit, men are bound by loyalties and enthusiasms to existing organizations. If they are successful in obtaining prestige and security from these organizations, they come to regard them as the ultimate in spiritual and moral perfection” (The Folklore of Capitalism, 10). These organizations are the dominant political culture that structure political discourse and inform every societal institution, including the courts. Debunking this ceremonial heuristic is impossible. In fact, Arnold is not recommending that we do so. |
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