Abstract

In Belgium there is recently a controversy concerning the court of justice and all who is professionally related to it. Conservativity and alienation are the main reproaches. This article questions if lawyers working in the ‘traditional’ sector (barrister, magistrate, notary and bailiff) differ in terms of social orientation (authoritarian conservatism, standards of morality and trust) from lawyers in other sectors. Hereto the theory of generalization is applied to sector of employment, with the Kohn-Schooler-tradition as source of inspiration. Data were gathered in 1994 of 801 lawyers (554 men and 247 women) working in Flanders and Brussels. A main finding is that lawyers in the traditional sector do not differ from the others with respect to authoritarian conservatism and standards of morality. However, women in the traditional sector have less trust in other people than female lawyers in other sectors. Furthermore, magistrates seem more likely to strictly obey the law than barristers do.

How to Cite:

Jacobs, A. & Van Houtte, M., (2000) “In en om het justitiepaleis: de invloed van sector van tewerkstelling op sociale oriëntatie bij juristen”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 21(1), 33–56. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86492