Book Reviews in Brief

For those interested in this new frontier (and perhaps more important, for all others in the dispute resolution business who should be), the editors of this comprehensive treatise have met their self-proclaimed objective to provide in-depth analysis and an overview of the past, present and future of online dispute resolution (ODR) - in their words, "a lens though which readers may observe and understand the issues facing dispute resolution practitioners as we struggle with how to integrate ODR and ICTs into 'mainline' dispute resolution theory and practice." In a wonderfully succinct list at the end of his introductory chapter, Avruch summarizes the additional main ideas behind the concept of culture as follows: * Cultures do not possess agency; individuals do * Cultures are not things, but analytical categories * Individuals are bearers of multiple cultures, not a single one * Individuals acquire their cultures as part of an ongoing social life; they are not paternally deep coded in the gene or volksgeist * Cultures are passed down to individuals, and in this sense one may speak of traditions; but cultures, as acquired by individuals throughout their lives, are also emergent and responsive to environmental or situational exigencies * Cultures are not monolithic, integrated, and stable holes, but are fragmented, contestable, and contested In other words: context matters!