Loyalists, Legalists, Cynics and Outsiders

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to develop an analytical framework based on the concept of ‘legal alienation’. This is done in three steps. First, it examines the general alienation literature and it discusses those few studies in which the concept of alienation has been applied to the field of law. Next, the concept of legal alienation is broken down into several dimensions: ‘legal meaninglessness’, ‘legal powerlessness’, ‘legal cynicism’ and ‘legal value isolation’. Finally, the chapter focuses on two basic questions: ‘Are people aware of the law?’ and: ‘Do people identify with law?’ Based on these questions, the chapter introduces four normative profiles to describe people’s attitudes towards law: ‘legalists’, ‘loyalists’, ‘cynics’ and ‘outsiders’.