Methodological literature is used to examine conceptions of common sense and consensus, and the relation of knowledge and ignorance in an essay illustrating the hegemonic power of Shari' a texts. In another study, the treatment of indigenous people in South Africa and America in terms of law and history are described, and it is shown how law supports repressive policies in this treatment. The dominant/subordinate power relation is explored in the next study as a realm of social relations based on a distinction between insider/outsider in a small American town and its relation to law. The next study illustrates how the community mediation movement is fortified by the contradictions within the valued symbols of community and consensus. A study of lawyer/client interaction in divorce cases examines the linkage of consciousness and social relations and connects the production of ideas concerning responsibility and blame with the dynamics of professional authority. Another study shows the power of techniques of classification and accounting in affecting social action and creating differential life consequences while undermining the basis for identity and group solidarity. In the final study, Marx's approaches to the critique of the public/private distinction in law are reconstructed and contemporary approaches to public/private distinctions in legal studies are analyzed. References.