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Looking for assistance with an article review.  Deadline is 27 Mar 21 @ 1159.  Guidelines and supporting documents attached. Any questions please ask.The Practice of Law as Confidence Game: Organizational Cooptation of a Profession Author(s): Abraham S. Blumberg Source: Law & Society Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 1967), pp. 15-40 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Law and Society Association Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3052933 Accessed: 16-02-2019 04:34 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Law and Society Association, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Law & Society Review This content downloaded from 209.65.86.115 on Sat, 16 Feb 2019 04:34:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THE PRACTICE OF LAW AS CONFIDENCE GAME Organizational Cooptation of a Profession ABRAHAM S. BLUMBERG State University of New York at Stony Brook A RECURRING THEME in the growing dialogue between sociology and law has been the great need for a joint effort of the two disciplines to illuminate urgent social and legal issues. Having uttered fervent public pronouncements in this vein, however, the respective practitioners often go their separate ways. Academic spokesmen for the legal profession are somewhat critical of sociologists of law because of what they perceive as the sociologists preoccupation with the application of theory and methodology to the examination of legal phenomena, without regard to the solution of legal problems. Further, it is felt that .. . contemporary writing in the sociology of law . . . betrays the existence of painfully unsophisticated notions about the day-to-day operations of courts, legis- latures and law offices.l Regardless of the merit of such criticism, EDITORS NOTE: In an essay contest sponsored by the Institute on Amer- ican Freedoms for graduate students in sociology, this article (submitted under the title of: Covert Contingencies in the Right to the Assistance of Counsel) won first prize, in the amount of $1,000, in February 1967. AUTHORS NOTE: The article is a revised version of a paper read at the meetings of the American Sociological Association, Miami Beach, Florida, August 30, 1966. 1. H. W. Jones, A View From the Bridge, Law and Society: Supplement to Summer, 1965 Issue of SOCIAL PROBLEMS 42 (1965). See G. Geis, Sociology, Crimi- nology, and Criminal Law, 7 SOCIAL PROBLEMS 40-47 (1959); N. S. Timasheff, Growth and Scope of Sociology of Law, in MODERN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN CONTINUITY AND . 15. This content downloaded from 209.65.86.115 on Sat, 16 Feb 2019 04:34:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/tDefining Management and Organization Chapter 1 What is Management? Difficult to define; multiple approaches Definitions based on actions/tasks/responsibilities Maximizing productivity Identifying purpose and goals of organization Monitoring and controlling employee behavior Definitions based on theory Scientific management Management theory Bureaucratic theory Human relations Decision making & mathematical From Text: Focusing on tasks/responsibilities does not provide an exact definition. Scientific management: maximize productivity through selection, training, and planning of tasks and employees. Management theory: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and providing feedback. Bureaucratic theory: clear division of labor and rules and procedures Human relations theory: manager’s understanding of workers and their needs/motives Decision making: address management’s role in making decisions 2 What is Management? (cont’d) Two parts to definition Group process; does not occur in isolation with a sole individual Directed toward the achievement of organizational goals “Management is an ongoing process of getting things done through a variety of people with the least amount of effort, expense, and waste, ultimately resulting in the achievement of organizational goals” Textbook definition does not necessarily identify how organizational goals are achieved; this is discussed in subsequent chapters. Various theories of management address different approaches to accomplishing these goals (e.g., rules and procedures for bureaucratic theory; meeting worker needs for human relations theory). 3 Characteristics of Organizations Blau and Scott: Who benefits? Owners/managers Members/rank and file Clients Commonwealth Definitions of organizations usually include at least two elements Two or more people Working together to achieve common goals Who benefits? Owners/managers: Particularly true in for-profit organizations Members: unions, social clubs, etc. Clients: Drug treatment programs Commonwealth: police departments, prosecutor’s offices (state/society benefits) Organizations are common in society because they allow for the achievement of goals that would be difficult to accomplish by individuals (e.g., health care, community protection, education, manufacturing). 4 Commonly Shared Elements Vision Mission Values Strategic Goals From Text: Vision: how an individual imagines the goals of the organization being accomplished Mission: overall purpose of the organization, particularly as described to those external to it Values: priorities of the organization Strategic goals: main concerns of the organization 5 Organizational Structures Formal organizational structures Centralized Communication is one-way, downward Rules and procedures Chain of command Informal organizational structures Decentralized Communication is two way, bi-directional Fewer rules and procedures Less rigid, shorteOpen v. Closed Systems Chapter 2 Organizational Theory “A way to examine and analyze organizations… based on patterns and trends in organizational design and behavior” Models of organizations Closed systems: explain organizations via internal events Open systems: explain organizations via external events Closed: A prison riot, for example, might be explained by reference to internal factors only (poor training, weak leadership, physical structure of facility). Open: A prison riot might be explained by reference to external factors (larger gang tensions imported into the prison, racism in society, diminished funding by government agencies) 2 Closed-System Models (Classical Perspective) Overview The external environment is stable and predictable and does not present problems for the organization Organizations are sealed off from the outside Emphasis is on the efficient management of the organization Emerged during the Industrial Revolution to improve the efficiency of work (machine models) The environment includes things outside of the organization such as the community, legal decisions, cultural and demographic forces, etc. Since the environment is largely unchanging, classical theorists suggested a single best way to organize. 3 Closed-System Models (Classical Perspective) Three closed-system model subfields Scientific management Administrative management Bureaucratic management Commonalities across subfields Individuals are rational All people will behave the same way in similar situations Rational individuals: people act logically and correctly 4 Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management Father of scientific management was Frederick Taylor. Focused on Task Performance, Supervision and Motivation Task Performance There was a correct way to perform every task; goal was to identify and document those procedures Scientific study of tasks, especially through time motion studies 5 Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management (contd) The role of Managers in Task Performance Develop standard procedures for each job Select workers with skills and abilities and match them to tasks Train workers in standard procedures Monitor and support workers through careful planning of work Supervision Supervisors were experts in certain areas; they were not authorities in areas beyond their areas of expertise In criminal justice agencies, as in other agencies, the authority of managers often goes beyond their areas of expertise. 6 Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management (cont’d) Motivation Monetary incentives Piecemeal pay: standard wage for standard output; more pay for exceeding standard output Criticisms of scientific management Managerial authority extended beyond area of expertise Faulty assumptions about workers (e.g., won’t all act the same in similar situations) Workers ignored for all but physical labor (e.g., rules guide behavior limiting the thinking skills of worArticle Review #1 APA format Rubric: Summary Analysis Organization Citations Article: The Practice of Law as Confidence Game (see attached) Length: 5-6 pages Attachments: PowerPoint 1 & 2 (for references), Law and Society Review **Must have two or more scholastic references