Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T08:17:47.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Legal Consciousness and Responses to Sexual Harassment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Amy Blackstone ,
Christopher Uggen  and
Heather McLaughlin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Studies of legal mobilization often focus on people who have perceived some wrong, but these studies rarely consider the process that selects them into the pool of potential “mobilizers.” Similarly, studies of victimization or targeting rarely go on to consider what people do about the wrong, or why some targets come forward and others remain silent. We here integrate sociolegal, feminist, and criminological theories in a conceptual model that treats experiencing sexual harassment and mobilizing in response as interrelated processes. We then link these two processes by modeling them as jointly determined outcomes and examine their connections using interviews with a subset of our survey respondents. Our results suggest that targets of harassment are selected, in part, because they are least likely to tell others about the experience. We also discuss strategies that workers employ to cope with and confront harassment. We find that traditional formal/informal dichotomies of mobilization responses may not fully account for the range of ways that individuals respond to harassment, and we propose a preliminary typology of responses.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 631 - 668
Copyright
© 2009 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2003 meetings of the Law and Society Association, Pittsburgh. We thank Jeylan Mortimer for support in several phases of this research, Jason Houle for research assistance, and Steve Barkan, Lance Blackstone, Steve Cohn, Andy Halpern-Manners, Mike Vuolo, and Sara Wakefield for helpful comments. The Youth Development Study is supported by a grant, “Work Experience and Mental Health: A Panel Study of Youth,” from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD44138). It was previously supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843). Additional support was obtained from the University of Minnesota Life Course Center and the University of Maine Women in the Curriculum Program. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health.

References

Albiston, Catherine R. (2005) “Bargaining in the Shadow of Social Institutions: Competing Discourses and Social Change in Workplace Mobilization of Civil Rights,” 39 Law & Society Rev. 11–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Douglas D., et al. (1990) “The Influence of Individual Characteristics and Severity of Harassing Behavior on Reactions to Sexual Harassment,” 22 Sex Roles 305–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, Paula A. (1993) “Perceptions of Sexual Harassment,” 63 Sociological Inquiry 460–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bravo, Ellen, & Cassedy, Ellen (1999) The Updated and Expanded 9to5 Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment. Milwaukee, WI: 9to5 Working Women Education Fund.Google Scholar
Bumiller, Kristin (1988) The Civil Rights Society: The Social Construction of Victims. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, Lindsey Joyce, et al. (2008) “Sexual Harassment in Organizational Context,” 35 Work and Occupations 262–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charmaz, Kathy (2005) “Grounded Theory in the 21st Century: Applications for Advancing Social Justice Studies,” in Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S., eds., The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 3d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Collinson, Margaret, & Collinson, David (1996) “It's Only Dick: The Sexual Harassment of Women Managers in Insurance Sales,” 10 Work, Employment and Society 29–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, Catherine (2002) “The Voice of the Petitioner: The Experiences of Gay and Lesbian Parents in Successful Second-Parent Adoption Proceedings,” 36 Law & Society Rev. 325–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cormier, Kelley E. (2007) “Grievance Practices in Post-Soviet Kyrgyz Agriculture,” 32 Law & Social Inquiry 435–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeCoster, Stacy, et al. (1999) “Routine Activities and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace,” 26 Work and Occupations 21–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewick, Patricia, & Silbey, Susan S. (1998) The Common Place of Law. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felstiner, William L., et al. (1980–1981) “The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming…,” 15 Law & Society Rev. 631–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, Michael, et al. (1991) “Work Experience and Control Orientation in Adolescence,” 56 American Sociological Rev. 597–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleury-Steiner, Benjamin (2003) “Before or Against the Law? Citizens' Legal Beliefs and Experiences as Death Penalty Jurors,” 27 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 115–37.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. (2006) “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed Disenchantment’ and the Development of Legal Consciousness,” 40 Law & Society Rev. 783–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelfand, Michele J., et al. (1995) “The Structure of Sexual Harassment: A Confirmatory Analysis across Cultures and Settings,” 47 J. of Vocational Behavior 164–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giuffre, Patti A., & Williams, Christine L. (1994) “Labeling Sexual Harassment in Restaurants,” 8 Gender & Society 378–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaser, Barney G., & Strauss, Anselm L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Transaction.Google Scholar
Gruber, James E. (1998) “The Impact of Male Work Environments and Organizational Policies on Women's Experiences of Sexual Harassment,” 12 Gender & Society 301–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, Melissa A. (1989) “Estimating Selection Effects in Occupational Mobility in a 19th-Century City,” 54 American Sociological Rev. 834–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heckman, James J. (1976) “The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models,” 5 Annals of Economic and Social Measurement 475–92.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Elizabeth A. (2003) “Legal Consciousness and Dispute Resolution: Different Disputing Behavior at Two Similar Taxicab Companies,” 28 Law & Social Inquiry 691–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Elizabeth A. (2005) “Dispute Resolution in a Worker Cooperative: Formal Procedures and Procedural Justice,” 39 Law & Society Rev. 51–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Elizabeth A. (2006) “Exit and Voice: Organizational Loyalty and Dispute Resolution Strategies,” 84 Social Forces 2313–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, Kathleen E. (2003) “The Cultural Power of Law and the Cultural Enactment of Legality: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage,” 28 Law & Social Inquiry 629–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Lesley A. (2007) “Rights and Quarantine During the SARS Global Health Crisis: Differentiated Legal Consciousness in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Toronto,” 41 Law & Society Rev. 511–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kritzer, Herbert M., et al. (1991) “To Confront or Not to Confront: Measuring Claiming Rates in Discrimination,” 25 Law & Society Rev. 875–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerum, Kari (2004) “Sexuality, Power, and Camaraderie in Service Work,” 18 Gender & Society 756–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liao, Tim Futing (1995) “The Nonrandom Selection of Don't Knows in Binary and Ordinal Responses: Correction with the Bivariate Probit Model with Sample Selection,” 29 Quality and Quantity 87–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litowitz, Douglas (2000) “The Social Construction of Law: Explanations and Implications,” 21 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 215–42.Google Scholar
Lofland, John, & Lofland, Lyn H. (1995) Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Lovell, George I. (2006) “Justice Excused: The Deployment of Law in Everyday Political Encounters,” 40 Law & Society Rev. 283–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, Catharine (1979) Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, Anna-Maria (2001) “A Spectrum of Oppositional Consciousness: Sexual Harassment Plaintiffs and Their Lawyers,” in Mansbridge, J. & Morris, A., eds., Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, Anna-Maria (2003) “Injustice Frames, Legality, and the Everyday Construction of Sexual Harassment,” 28 Law & Social Inquiry 659–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Anna-Maria (2005) “Idle Rights: Employees' Rights Consciousness and the Construction of Sexual Harassment,” 39 Law & Society Rev. 83–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Anna-Maria, & Barclay, Scott (2003) “In Their Own Words: How Ordinary People Construct the Legal World,” 28 Law & Social Inquiry 617–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1990) Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working Class Americans. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, Laurie A., & Martin, Karin A. (2006) “Taking Women Professions Out of the Office: The Case of Women in Sales,” 20 Gender & Society 108–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, Phoebe A. (1999) “Risking Relationships: Understanding the Litigation Choices of Sexually Harassed Women,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 201–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, Rachel L. (2009) “Are Women Tending and Befriending in the Workplace? Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Workplace Friendships and Organizational Outcomes,” 60 Sex Roles 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortimer, Jeylan (2003) Working and Growing Up in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munkres, Susan A. (2008) “Claiming ‘Victim’ to Harassment Law: Legal Consciousness of the Privileged,” 33 Law & Social Inquiry 447–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, Laura Beth (2000) “Situating Legal Consciousness: Experiences and Attitudes of Ordinary Citizens about Law and Street Harassment,” 34 Law & Society Rev. 1055–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedriana, Nicholas (2006) “From Protective to Equal Treatment: Legal Framing Processes and Transformation of the Women's Movement in the 1960s,” 111 American J. of Sociology 1718–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, Beth A. (2000) “The Paradox of Complaining: Law, Humor, and Harassment in the Everyday Work World,” 25 Law & Social Inquiry 1151–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, Beth A. (2005) “Toward a Criminology of Sexual Harassment,” in Gruber, J. E. & Morgan, P., eds., In the Company of Men: Male Dominance and Sexual Harassment. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Richman, Kimberly D. (2001) “In Times of Need: Abused Women's Sources of Support and Changes in Legal Consciousness,” 22 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 171–94.Google Scholar
Rospenda, Kathleen M., et al. (1998) “Doing Power: The Confluence of Gender, Race, and Class in Contrapower Sexual Harassment,” 12 Gender & Society 40–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, Peter (1997) Understanding and Preventing Sexual Harassment. New York: Bantam.Google Scholar
Simpson, Sally & Ellis, Lori (1996) “Theoretical Perspectives on the Corporate Victimization of Women,” in Szockyj, E. & Fox, J., eds., Corporate Victimization of Women. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Stambaugh, Phoebe Morgan (1997) “The Power of Law and the Sexual Harassment Complaints of Women,” 9 National Women's Studies Association J. 23–42.Google Scholar
Terpstra, David E., & Baker, Douglas D. (1986) “Psychological and Demographic Correlates of Perceptions of Sexual Harassment,” 112 Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs 461–78.Google ScholarPubMed
Tinkler, Justine E. (2008) “People Are Too Quick to Take Offense: The Effects of Legal Information and Beliefs on Definitions of Sexual Harassment,” 33 Law & Social Inquiry 417–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, & Blackstone, Amy (2004) “Sexual Harassment as a Gendered Expression of Power,” 69 American Sociological Rev. 64–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, Susan L. (1999) Sexual Harassment, Shades of Gray: Guidelines for Managers, Supervisors & Employees. Shoreline, WA: Pacific Resource Development.Google Scholar
Weiss, Robert S. (2004) “In Their Own Words: Making the Most of Qualitative Interviews,” 3 Contexts 44–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, Sandy (1999) “Gender and Sexual Harassment,” 25 Annual Rev. of Sociology 169–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, Sandy, et al. (2006) “I'm Not Thinking of It as Sexual Harassment: Understanding Harassment across Race and Citizenship,” 20 Gender & Society 87–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, Sandy, et al. (2002) “Legal Factors, Extra-Legal Factors, or Changes in the Law? Using Criminal Justice Research to Understand the Resolution of Sexual Harassment Complaints,” 49 Social Problems 605–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winship, Christopher, & Mare, Robert D. (1992) “Models for Sample Selection Bias,” 18 Annual Rev. of Sociology 327–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar