Legal Cynicism and System Avoidance: Roma Marginality in Central and Eastern Europe

Ioana Sendroiu*, Ron Levi, John Hagan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Roma are Europe's largest minority group and face extensive discrimination across the continent. Drawing on a survey of Roma and non-Roma households in twelve Central and Eastern European countries, we analyze the extent to which legal cynicism, as a cognitive frame, is connected to the avoidance of helpful social institutions. We thus expand existing research on legal cynicism to focus on individuals' contacts with potentially helpful institutions that can buffer inequality. We conclude that the interplay of legal cynicism and system avoidance, which have provided deep insights into the reproduction of structural disadvantage in American cities, also provide us with international insights into the causes of inequality and minority disadvantage across hundreds of towns in Central and Eastern Europe. In this way, legal cynicism and system avoidance work to reproduce durable inequality.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)281-308
Number of pages28
JournalSocial Forces
Volume101
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • History
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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