Cultural Values and Access to Justice Among Marginalized Communities
Keywords:
access to justice, cultural values, marginalized communities, legal consciousness, qualitative research, Tehran, legal aid, social justiceAbstract
This study aimed to explore how cultural values shape marginalized communities’ perceptions, experiences, and practical pathways of access to justice in Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted using a conventional thematic analysis approach. Participants included 24 individuals from marginalized communities in Tehran who had direct or indirect experience with legal problems, administrative complaints, family disputes, labor conflicts, housing insecurity, or migration-related legal vulnerability. Participants were selected through purposive sampling followed by snowball sampling to ensure variation in gender, age, socioeconomic status, educational background, migration status, and type of justice-related experience. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews lasting 45–75 minutes. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved, with no substantial new codes emerging after the twenty-second interview and two additional interviews confirming saturation. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis framework. NVivo software was used to organize transcripts, manage coding, compare categories, and retrieve relevant quotations. Trustworthiness was enhanced through member checking, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement with the data, reflexive memo-writing, and audit-trail documentation. Analysis generated five main categories: justice as social dignity and moral recognition; shame, honor, and fear of public exposure; reliance on family, kinship, and informal mediation; institutional distance and bureaucratic alienation; and culturally responsive legal support as a bridge to formal justice. Participants described justice not only as legal remedy but also as respect, voice, social legitimacy, and protection from humiliation. Cultural norms sometimes encouraged patience, compromise, and family-based dispute resolution, but they also discouraged formal complaint when legal action was perceived as shameful, costly, dishonorable, or socially risky. The findings suggest that access to justice among marginalized communities is shaped by the interaction of cultural values, social hierarchy, institutional trust, economic hardship, and legal awareness. Justice systems that ignore cultural meanings may unintentionally reproduce exclusion. Culturally responsive legal aid, community-based legal literacy, respectful institutional communication, and participatory justice services are necessary to improve substantive access to justice.
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