III

..

DIFFERENCE: SOCIAL STRUCTURE

IN LEGAL PEDAGOGY

Through an awareness of intersectionality, we can better ac-

knowledge and ground the differences among us and negotiate

the means by which these differences will find expression.^1

My difference argument... is grounded in empirical realiza-

tions, in gendered experiences, and therefore, in women’s lives

as constructed in society and culture.^2

From here, what we need to do is work, in specific contexts, on

the problems of difference.^3

A

debate has emerged in recent years over the impact of social difference on law
school education. Studies and anecdotal accounts have suggested that women
are disadvantaged in law school classrooms because of differential patterns of par-
ticipation and inclusion and because of gendered reactions to distinctively legal
discourse styles. Although far less systematic attention has been paid to the effects
of race, class, or school status on students’ experience in law schools, there have
been accounts suggesting that students of color also feel excluded in law school
classrooms. In addition, recent work documents negative effects of the law school
milieu for working-class students. In this part of the book, we examine the shape
of the differences and similarities among the classrooms in this study in terms of
race, gender, and school status.
Chapter 7 begins the section with an overview of the different professorial
teaching styles found in the classrooms of the study, analyzed in context. Chapter
8 presents this study’s findings on student participation, with particular attention
to race and gender. The chapter analyzes the implications for our understandings
of diversity, both in the law school classroom and beyond it. These chapters sug-