Informal reckonings : conflict resolution in mediation, restorative justice and reparations /

Scholars have recently noted the artificiality of the informal-formal justice divide, which emphasizes the differences between the two to the detriment of their many similarities. Woolford (sociology, University of Manitoba) and Ratner (sociology, University of British Columbia) rely on the dual analytical lens of governmentality studies and communicative action theory to discuss the added value of increasingly popular informal justice practices in civil mediation, restorative justice, and reparations. This perceptive, well-argued, but condensed volume written clearly and elegantly provides good summaries of the advantages and perils of informal reckoning in different settings, and convincingly argues that, as arenas of expression and mobilization of social and legal criticism, these informal "counterpublics" can lead toward transformative justice. While they risk succumbing to the neoliberal influences that shape the formal justice system, informal practices can also subvert those influences and reconfigure the justice system by rendering it more democratic. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, through professional collections. L. Stan St. Francis Xavier University