The Sociological Perspective

KOBE SALAD 2014
LECTURE 13

What is the discipline called sociology?

JAPANESE SYSTEM OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION:
A LEGAL-SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW:- It developed from 17 c. moral and political philosophy
through the influences by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.

FOCUSING ON
INDIVIDUAL TROUBLE-EXPERIENCE & REMEDY-SEEKING

What do Sociology do?
- They study how humans live together, peacefully andcontinuously

SHIRO KASHIMURA
KOBE UNIVERSITY

Thomas Hobbes
British political philosopher
public domain- Humans living together in society are called as social members.

August 21, 2014

- The basic assumption of sociology is that a social member is constantly awareof the existence of other social members. A corollary; Each social member isaware of his being under some influence by other social members.

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The Sociological Perspective

The Sociological Perspective & Law
What do the sociological studies of law aim at?

What are basic sociological concepts?

- understanding and explaining legal actions and legal organizations.

- ACTION: symbolic and physical manifestation of voluntariness of fellow
humans, such as, walking, speaking, contracting, offending, defending, etc.

legal actions:symbolic and physical manifestationof voluntariness of fellow humans,such as, contracting, planning,disputing, mediating, litigating,punishing the criminals, deciding thelegal cases, constituting the nationstate, etc, in short, actions in termsof the law.

- ORGANIZATION: stable arrangements of multiple actions, such as, schools,hospitals, meetings, gatherings, mobs, demonstrations, courts, etc.

What do Sociological studies aim at?
- finding ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLES & METHODSthat are collectively followed by social members, for- better UNDERSTANDING & EXPLAINING how social
members can and cooperate, prevent conflicts, amend
misconducts, teach how to behave each other, etc., in short,
how humans live together, peacefully and continuously.

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George Herbert Mead
American philosopher,
psychologist & sociologist
public domain

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legal organization:
stable arrangements of multiple
actions, such as, courts, police, lawfirms, formal and informal dispute
resolution meetings, juries, etc, inshort, stable arrangements ofmultiple legal actions.

- In sum; The sociology of law aims at better understanding and explaining how
social members can and do legal actions and participate in legal organizationsof their society together, peacefully and collaboratively.

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Dispute Resolution in Japanese Society

Japanese System of Dispute Resolution: What to Learn?
The Data

What are the Legal Actions relevant to dispute resolution?

- 2006 National Survey on Advice Seeking and Utilization of Law
reported in the book below.

Focus: individual member’s ordinary troubles:- How and why do individual members of Japanese society experience andseek for help of others to cope with their difficulties in their ordinary lives?

- To provide a comprehensive picture ofJapanese’s experience of trouble andadvice seeking behaviors that follow, by
the method of:What are the Legal Organizations to be studied?

- National random sample of 11,000
individuals of ages 20-70.

- the stable patterns of Japanese social member’s experiencing andseeking for help of others.

- Number of respondents: 5,330- The positive and negative responses of other social members of family,community, and governmental system.

SOURCE: Trouble Experience andAdvice-Seeking Behavior, edited byKashimura & Bushimata (2010)- The positive and negative consequences of the social member’s actions.

- Conducted in March to May, 2006.
- Questionnaire & interview method.

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Table 1. The Types of Trouble-Areas Asked
About in the Questionnaire
1. Goods/Services
2. Money Loan
3. Real Properties
4. Landlord/Tenant Relations
5. Information Technology/Telecommunication
6. Workplace
7. Hospital

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Table
Tbl. 2 General Pattern of Advice Seeking

8. School
9. Neighborhood
10. Family/Relatives
11. Accident/Crime
12. Government
13. Business
14. Not Listed Above

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All respondents (people who agreed to answer thequestionnaire)

5,330 (100%)

Respondents who experienced at least one problem
within the past 5 years (2001-2005)

1,946 (36.5%)

Respondents who sought advice from at least one
specialist advisor (including lawyer and judicialscrivener)

520 ( 9.8%)

Respondents who sought advice from at least a lawyer(弁護士) or a judicial scrivener (司法書士)

80 ( 1.5%)

Respondents who went the courts (litigation,conciliation, and other procedures)

10 ( 0.2%)** litigation 5, conciliation 3, other procedures 2

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FigureFig. 1 Duration of Remedy-Seeking Actions (months)

Some Observations & Suggested Models
A Legalistic Model states:- that if people experience legal troubles, they seek legal remedies.
- Centrality of law: All trouble-experiencing actions are seeking
for legal remedies.
- Centrality of courts: Only the organization offering official legalremedies (i.e. courts) are relevant.
An Alternative Model states:

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Fig. 2 Variety of Trouble-Experience by Areas of Troubles(% of Experienced Respondents)
Telecommunication
Neighborhood
Goods/Services
Accident/Crime
WorkplaceHospital
Government
Family/Relatives
Real Properties
SchoolMoney Loan
Business
Landlord/Tenant
Not Listed Above<- areas of high frequency- that not all of the people experiencing legal troubles seek legal remedies;- Variety of meaning: Trouble-experience & remedy-seeking
actions are varied.
- Variety of helpers: Not only the organization offering legal
remedies but also organizations offering a variety of help arerelevant.
- Centrality of meaning: The actions vary according to their
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meaning of the experience in individual’s life.

3Less likely tohappenNo cases
hereMore likely tohappen

Some cases
here<- areas of low frequency

All experienced respondents

NOTE; The frequencies of trouble-experience among social members are usually difficult
to interpret. These may reflect sheer rate of incidences, or rather, some combination of sheer
incidences and subjective factors such as seriousness, knowledge or collective consciousness
as to the incidents. (SOURCE: Nobuo Kanomata “Trouble Incidence, Advice-Seeking & Useof Law,” in Kashimura & Bushimata 2010: 99-118: at 101.)

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Selective Use of the Law*- In most problem categories, Courts are never used: × in far-rightcolumns for the 20 out of 27 categories shown in Table 3.
- Court are more likely to be used in only 3 categories: “Too HighPrice of Goods/Services,” “Default on Loan as a Debtor (allcases),” & Collection of Bill/Payment on Business.”

All cases
here- In half of problem categories, Legal Specialists are never used: × insecond-right columns for 14 out of 27 categories).
- Legal Specialists are more likely to be used in only limited* The table is excerpted, rearranged and translated from the table 3 of Nobuo Kanomata “TroubleIncidence, Advice-Seeking & Use of Law,” in Kashimura & Bushimata 2010: 99-118.

categories: “Default on Loan as a Debtor,” & “Eviction,”“Default/Grace of Rent,” some categories in Family/Relatives
areas, & Others.
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The Common Use of Non-Legal Specialists

The Pervasive of the Use of Personal Advisers- Non-Legal/Area-Specific Specialists, are used in most of the problem
categories: the tendency shown by ◎ in third-right columns for the 6categories, & by ◯ for 16 categories out of 27 in Table 3.

- In all of problem categories, Personal Advisers (members of family,relatives, friends, etc.) are used: the tendency shown by no × infourth-right columns for 27 categories.

- Most-used Non-Legal/Area-Specific Specialists: Significantly- Especially, Personal Advisers are used in all cases in a category:used such specialists are “Police”/“Insurance Companies” for“Accident/Crime” area, & “Consumer Centers,” “Labor Standard
Agencies” and Other Area-Specialists in other areas.

- However, Personal Advisers are less likely to be used in a certain- Non-Legal/Area-Specific Specialists are less likely to be used in afew problem categories: such as “Importunate/Persistent Phones/Emails,” “Shortage/Deficiencies in the Services,” “Denial/IllNatured Response to a Claim/Inquiry,” “Too High Price for
Actual Quality of the Goods/Services.”
15/20“Default on Loan (as a Debtor).”

categories: “Importunate/Persistent Phones/Emails,” “Shortage/Deficiencies in the Services, “ “Denial/Ill-Natured Response to a
Claim/Inquiry,” “ Too High Price for Actual Quality of the Goods/Services.”

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13/22The Organization of Seeking of Remedy-Offering Others
The data suggests that the Alternative Model corresponds better than theLegalistic Model to the pattern of Remedy-Seeking Actions by themembers of Japanese society.
To remind of the Alternative Model’s statements:- that not all of the people experiencing legal troubles seek legal remedies;- Variety of meaning: Trouble-experience & remedy-seeking
actions are varied.
- Variety of helpers: Not only the organization offering legal
remedies but also organizations offering a variety of help arerelevant.

How Can the Organization of Remedy-Seeking Actions BeExplained?
- Variety and Centrality of Meaning: Trouble-experience &remedy-seeking actions are varied; The actions vary according totheir meaning of the experience in individual’s life
- Non-Use of Non-Legal/Legal Specialist Advisers can be explainedin terms of the transitional nature and the lack of serious threat totheir lives. E.g. In most Telecommunication and Goods/Serviceareas, both non-legal and legal measure are not likely to be taken.
- Some Use of Non-Legal/Legal Specialist Advisers can be explainedin just the opposite terms: the persistent nature and the existence ofserious threat to their lives. E.g. In “Default on Loan (as a Debtor)”& “Will/Succession/a Family Tomb”(not shown in Table 3)
categories, both non-legal and legal measure are likely to be taken.

- Centrality of meaning: The actions vary according to their
meaning of the experience in individual’s life.
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How can the organization of remedy-seeking actions beexplained?

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Conclusions- The results of 2006 national survey was discussed.

- Variety of helpers: Not only the organization offering legal remedies
but also organizations offering a variety of help are relevant.

- The actions and organizations of trouble-experiencing and remedyseeking by social members of Japanese society were analyzed, focusing on
the difference across problem-categories.

- The Use of Non-Legal Specialist Advisers in Certain Problems canbe explained in terms of the expectation of effective help from thetype of advisers and their performances. E.g. In most categories ofAccident/Crime areas, “Police”/”Insurance Companies” are usedfor help.

- The data shows that not all trouble-experiencing actions are seeking forlegal remedies; Rather, they suggest that the actions actually taken
generally reflect the variety of meaning of the experience of trouble inindividual’s life, e.g. persistence of trouble and threat to their lives.

- In Some Non-Use of Legal Specialist Advisers or Court may suggest
lack of appropriate legal remedies: E.g. In “Divorce/Custody ofChildren,”“Denial/Ill-Natured Response to a Claim/Inquiry,”“Discharges/Retirement Allowances,” (not shown in Table 3)“Eviction," & "Default/Grace of Rent”categories, both non-legal
and legal measure are likely to be taken, but no use of courts.

19/20- The data also shows that not only the organization offering official legal
remedies (i.e. courts) were relevant; Rather, the organizations offering avariety of specialist/personal help are relevant because they offer the AreaSpecific or Problem-Specific Remedies for the types of problems effectively.
- The data also suggests the Problematic Lack of Effective Legal
Measures in some problem categories.

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