Ambivalence towards law: Business Improvement Associations, public disorder and legal consciousness

This article examines the ways the business community – here operationalised through Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) – thinks about and makes sense of the Law and the legal system, its legal consciousness, in other words. I suggest that the way BIAs think about and make sense of the Law is best described as ambivalent, ranging from reverence to disenchantment: on the one hand, the Law is (like) God, but on the other, the Law is also a source of angst, frustration, hopelessness and powerlessness. Drawing on the analytical framework of legal consciousness, I suggest, provides a good platform from which to explore whether the ‘haves’ come out ahead, and what coming out ahead might mean and look like to them. Equally, the ambivalence towards law shows that the ways the ‘haves’ make sense of the Law might not always be that antithetical to the way the ‘have-nots’ make sense of the Law.