Marginal Doors? Avoidance and Violence in the Multi-Door World of Process Pluralism

At the heart of Carrie Menkel-Meadow’s work lies “process pluralism”, the recognition that responses to disagreement extend beyond litigation. This essay, offered in her honour, argues that the pluralist repertoire, viewed sociologically, should embrace the neglected ends of the processual spectrum more firmly: avoidance and prevention at one end, self-help and violence at the other. Drawing on legal anthropology, the sociology of conflict and Chinese materials, it proposes that process links structural and situational accounts of both. Seen from the poles, the middle ground of negotiation, mediation, umpiring and hybrid processes appears as a valuable but partial repertoire. Keywords: dispute resolution; process pluralism; avoidance; dispute prevention; violence; self-help; mediation; Menkel-Meadow; sociology of conflict; China.