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Examples Of Unequal Power Relations

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This question reveals aspects of the nature of law and legal profession that results in a perpetuation of the view that unequal power relations are the norm, where unequal power relations would be established as a situation where some have the ability to hegemonise a relationship. While there have been examples of unequal power relations that have been made deviant, the view remains that such relationships are continually made ordinary by these institutions.

In this essay, I will set out the yardstick where an unequal power relation has been normalised by these institutions. Having done so, it would be appropriate to use such a measurement to relate to how unequal power relations have been made typical in different aspects of said institutions – in practice, in academia, courts and their judgments, and in house treatment of women. I will also explore the different areas of law where such an inequality has been perpetuated. Points brought up in this essay will be made in reference to Mansell et al, A Critical Introduction to Law (2004), Chapter 2, and Hagan and Kay, ‘The Emotional Toll and Exhilaration of Human Rights Activism (2011) 37(1) Queen’s Law Journal 257. Substantiating arguments put forth by other sources would be cited.

A situation being normalised or normal will first be set out as being made to conform to what is standard and ordinary in society, i.e. the norm, for the sake of this essay. This means that the inequality in power in a relationship is said to be

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