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Being One of Us: The Role of Mutual Recognition and Emotion in Shaping Legal Consciousness in a Taiwanese Neighbourhood Dispute

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2022

Hsiao-Tan Wang
Hsiao-Tan Wang*
Affiliation:
School of Law, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
*
E-mail: hsiaotan@nccu.edu.tw
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Abstract

Literature on neighbourhood disputes has explored legal consciousness by focusing on identity, personal relationships, and community norms. However, it still remains unclear how affective factors and one’s sense of identity can influence the social practice of law and how the recursive relationship between law, emotion, and identity can influence life in particular communities. This study explores the dynamics of identity/alterity construction, and the role of emotion in shaping these dynamics during a neighbourhood conflict in Taipei, Taiwan. This dispute highlights how ordinary Taiwanese people’s legal consciousness is constituted through a culturally embedded sense of emotion (qíng) and belonging (zìjǐrén). Analysis of “The Noodle Shop Case” advances our understanding of the social presence and authority of law and the ways in which the role of law changes according to how individuals feel as they seek both mutual recognition and justice.

Keywords

legal consciousnessidentityalterityemotionsense of belonginginterpersonal conflict
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 2023 , pp. 131 - 146
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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