From apprehension of the law to social mobilization
The purpose of this empirical article is to better understand the relationships to the law of lay or non-legal actors, and their probable connections with the legal consciousness of the various professionals with whom they interact. Qualitative research was conducted with beneficiaries of Québec’s last-resort financial assistance program (programme québécois d’aide financière de dernier recours) and with professionals working within different legal cultures (health and social services, community advocacy organizations and legal services), who support beneficiaries in their medical, administrative and legal dealings with “social assistance”. Using case studies and cross-analyses, the article explains how different professional strategies shape the relationships of social assistance beneficiaries to the law. The discussion also identifies the continuums and internal conflicts that span various legal cultures — independent of institutional settings — and examines how they may affect and shape the legal consciousness of social assistance beneficiaries.