ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the making of community mediation through a study of ideological production. It explains the major approaches developed from critical analyses of informalism and describes how an ideological mode of analysis advances the work. The chapter discusses the two processes of ideological production: the mobilization of symbolic and material resources and the selection of mediators. It explores the interplay of three ideological projects—service delivery, social transformation, and personal growth—that the authors' use to characterize the community mediation movement for purposes of analysis. The chapter examines the selection of mediators by program staff within local programs. Community justice associates mediation with democratic values, such as community participation and neighborhood self-governance, and it evokes the sense of a cohesive community. "Community justice" and "consensual justice" are important symbols for the reform movement. Consensual justice refers to justice produced through a voluntary process. The chapter illustrates the possibilities of an ideological mode of analysis for understanding sociolegal phenomena.
