Neither dispute resolution in general nor community mediation in particular can be understood as independent, self-determinate systems. They are social occurrences embedded in modes for reproducing social regulation and deriving their logic from general tendencies in the larger society. This article identifies the major social transformations that have affected the scope and nature of dispute resolution. Using a general theory of capitalist reproduction, the discussion develops concepts for understanding these changes. Each of the processes -expansion, neutralization, and recommodification -- act upon dispute resolution. The article maps an understanding of community mediation as part of the larger reproduction context, itself subordinate to the basic tendencies of the capitalist formation. Community mediation has elements of a collective reappropriation of self-management from the state rather than being simply another form of state management of human affairs and interactions. 5 notes and 49 references.