The Construction of a Courtroom

Abstract

This article uses autopoietic theory to explain the dual construction of Philadelphia Landlord-Tenant (L-T) Court’s organizational patterns and the construction of my understanding of these patterns. Autopoiesis characterizes biological, individual, and social systems as fundamentally self-referential and asserts that the relationship between systems is defined by continuous responses to environmental changes made by each system. By using a combination of methodologies and extensive fieldwork, I participated in the organizational patterns that I was observing. The central pattern observed was L-T Court’s propagation of its own version of landlord and tenant law that directly contradicts substantial portions of the judicial, legislative, and administrative law the court is mandated to apply. Autopoietic theory provides a powerful framework to understand the organizational behavior of this courtroom and the epistemological dimensions of researchers’ relationship with the organizations that they observe.