Conflict and Continuing Relationship Between Schools and    Parents or Children with Disabilities
{'Code': '04050200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'SES', 'LongName': 'Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Lisa Martin', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
Law and culture shape interactions between people and groups in                 society.  The relationships among various parties are pervaded by               cultural images and social values that give form to perceptions of              events, expectations of behavior, and definitions of acceptable and             unacceptable conduct.  Under certain circumstances social interactions          are perceived as "normal"; under others they are perceived as                   problematic and conflictual.  Dr. Engel examines the factors that lead          people to interpret a set of experiences as conflictual or                      nonconflictual in order to better understand the emergence and                  transformation of conflict and the invocation of the law.                                                                                                       The particular social arena for the research is the relationship                between parents of children with physical disabilities and the schools          and school districts that plan and implement educational programs for           "handicapped" students.  There are some important features of this              setting for a study of the relationship between law, culture, and               conflict; namely, the parties cannot "exit" from their dealings with            one another since the relationship is mandated by law.  Thus, the               relationship is a continuing one rather than a one-time or intermittent         social encounter.  Also, it is distinct from the continuing                     relationships studied previously because it involves an individual and          an institutional entity rather than two individuals, and it is                  characterized by vast disparities in resources and authority rather             than involving parties of roughly equal power.  Specifically, Dr. Engel         examines the continuing interactions between parents and schools in             terms of their cultural and legal context.  Through a series of                 systematic interviews with parents over the course of a year, the               project traces the ways in which interactions are perceived and                 interpreted and explores the reasons that conflicts emerge or fail to           emerge.  Finally, through interviews and observations involving a               separate group of parents who have sought legal assistance, the study           investigates how and why the formal legal framework is actually invoked         and what affect it has on the relationship between parents, whom the            law has attempted to empower, and schools.                                                                                                                      Dr. Engel's study tests prevailing assumptions that continuing                  relations are generally characterized by strong informal normative              systems worked out cooperatively by the parties in a situation where            reciprocity and the threat of withdrawal from the relationship may have         little relevance.  Conventional theories of continuing relations also           assume that the invocation of formal law is less frequent than in               one-time or intermittent interactions and that it is dysfunctional for          the relationship.  While this study may indeed discover that formal law         is seldom invoked, it may also raise some questions as to whether the           potential role of law in dealings between parents and school                    authorities is dysfunctional or functional for the relationship itself          and for the various parties involved.
{'FirstName': 'David', 'LastName': 'Engel', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'M', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'David M Engel', 'EmailAddress': 'dmengel@acsu.buffalo.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000325969', 'StartDate': '10/15/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
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{'Code': '1372', 'Text': 'LSS-Law And Social Sciences'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8710330.xml'}