Glossary

Mediators pay careful attention to the words they use and to the words parties use.

Untangling differences in meanings can lead to greater understanding between parties. Since mediation is still unfamiliar to many people, and since it is often closely linked to legal terminology, it is helpful to agree on the meanings of words used in mediation.

Anti-essentialism– the effort to overcome thinking that categorizes others based on one primary or essential characteristic; the recognition that we are all combinations of a complex set of biological, social, and personal qualities and influences that we are incapable of separating from each other.

Authority– a set of rights conferred on individuals based on legal entitlements or by the acquired attributes granted on the basis of employment status, professional credentials or community reputation, that give someone’s words and deeds influence; power invoked by individuals or groups backed up by private institutions or the state.

Bias– the accumulated experience, knowledge, and beliefs which in all cases and at all times influence one’s perceptions, decisions, and conduct.

Class– determined by the separation of physical and mental labor which privileges those who are non-manual laborers; the intellectual laborers maintain power through control of information backed up by the means of violence; once established in practice and codified in law and /or religion, the manual labor class “consents” to its exploitation and believes it is natural and immutable.

Confidentiality– protection of each party’s legal right to keep what is said in the evaluation for mediation and all mediation sessions, private from the court and other individuals; mediators are often protected by statute from having to break confidentiality; the confidentiality of the parties in relation to the courts may be waived by the parties if all parties agree either prior to or during the mediation or retroactively; confidentiality as it relates to any situation other than the court or legal advisors, should be discussed and specified by the parties before signing the agreement to mediate; exceptions to confidentiality vary from state to state and should be clearly explained prior to the mediation.

Discrimination– discrimination is denial to individuals or groups of people, equality of treatment;

     Sex Discrimination is denial of equality of treatment based on one’s biological sex or        due to failure to adequately meet the gender norms of behavior associated with sex; assuming that because someone is born female she will become “woman,” born male he will become “man.”

     Institutionalized Discrimination is the reinforcement of discrimination through social institutions, through law or social custom and business practice.

Empathy–the opportunity to acknowledge the perspective of a another who is in a different situation and holds a contrary viewpoint; cognitive empathy is not the same as “feeling for” someone, which is called “sympathy.”

Empowerment– exercising a claim to one’s natural, legal and human rights granted by law and custom; the ability to understand and analyze circumstances and present proposals based on self-interest; the ability to maintain one’s own perspective when the other parties exercise the same rights; negotiation with knowledge and skill based on awareness of what one is entitled to; the quality and quantity of resources available to each party and the ability to use them; a temporary suspension of the pre-existing roles can be approximated in mediation in the hopes of shifting perceptions and behaviors that allow a re-negotiated framework to emerge, but power imbalances existing outside the mediation cannot actually be equalized. 

Entitlement– the natural, legal, and human rights held by all equally, that are codified in law and/ or accepted by precedent or custom.

Evaluation– the investigation prior to mediation in which the neutral speaks with the parties to determine the appropriateness of the case for mediation and explains the process he or she uses in mediation; evaluation continues throughout the entire mediation; the term “evaluation” is also used to describe the use of a neutral to assess for the parties the legal ramifications of engaging in litigation and to inform parties of their opinions.

Fairness– In fulfilling the expectation of fairness in mediation, the mediator has the major responsibility in maintaining fairness of the process, while the parties determine the fairness of the outcomes. Parties’ perceptions of the fairness of the process are influenced not only by the behavior of the mediator, but also by the behavior of the others in the mediation.

Gender– traits culturally defined as masculine and feminine associated with male and female biological organs of reproduction, becoming “man” and “woman;” these fluid definitions vary from culture to culture and in different historical periods, legitimizing certain proscribed behaviors and roles, and outlawing others.

Good Faith/Good Will– the spoken intention of each party to negotiate with the other parties; the agreement and capacity of each party to determine and disclose all relevant information; the willingness of the participant to make proposals to resolve the dispute and to abide by agreements.

Impartiality– the ability of the mediator to maintain non-preferential attitudes and behaviors towards all parties in a dispute; it is the ethical responsibility of the mediator to withdraw if they have lost the ability to remain impartial and/or can be cited by the parties as reason to end the mediation.

Informed Consent– the requirement that parties have all relevant information to voluntarily and intelligently enter into the mediation process, to decide whether to continue negotiations, and/or to make agreements; information includes documentation from other parties and an understanding of the ramifications of agreements that can mean waiving future legal rights and remedies; informed consent promotes fairness and is a protection against coercion, ignorance and incapacity; a prerequisite for self-determination, informed consent assumes that each party has the capacity to make decisions in their own best interests.

Intersectionality– the combination of traits, influences, knowledge and experience that create each unique individual.

Mediation– a negotiation based on self-determination of parties, assisted by a neutral;.

Negotiation– the process of putting forward proposals and considering the proposals of other parties, in which the negotiator maintains the ability to act in their own self-interest or in the interests of those they represent.

Neutrality– the alleged ability of the mediator to remain uninvested in the outcome of a dispute, to be aware of any contamination of neutrality, and to withdraw if he or she has lost neutrality.

Privacy– the constitutional right of all citizens to “inviolate personality,” to live in accordance with the most deeply held principles of democracy, without invasion by the government or other citizens; privacy rights of parents come into conflict regarding their equal rights to raise children; children may be seen as disloyal or secretive by either parent as they attempt to protect the privacy of the other.

Reality Testing– an intervention used by mediators to confirm with the parties, together or separately, that they understand the potential results of any proposal or agreement being made; the mediator is fulfilling the ethical responsibility to evaluate capacity and to be sure the parties understand their options; it is never to be used as a form of coercion.

Self-determination– the capacity of each participant in mediation to understand the issues in the conflict and all relevant information, to verbalize their point of view, to make decisions for themselves, including the decision of whether or not to mediate.

Prejudice– Latin roots means “pre-judgment;” to hold an adverse opinion or belief without just ground or before acquiring sufficient knowledge; the functions of prejudice are to avoid punishment or receive rewards, to protect one’s self-esteem against awareness of one’s limitations, to hold to the values of one’s group against the threat of inferiority, to divide reality into categories in order to comprehend the world, to maintain the control and power of a dominant group, to open the door through which scapegoating becomes aggression, to be reassured of one’s social standing through conformity, to avoid confronting one’s own undesirable characteristics, and is used by totalitarian regimes to divert attention away from the real causes of social and economic conditions.

Racism– the dehumanization and persecution of a people based primarily on skin color and ethnic traits, and secondarily on alleged qualities used to justify inhuman treatment; persecution, backed by the control of the means of force, may take the form of slavery, abuse and torture, murder, or denial of access to the economic, political or educational means of survival; seen as true and “natural,” it is accepted by members of the dominant culture who are accomplices in their actions and their silences, and is codified in laws and practices by both church and state.

Sex– 1) the cultural/historical/medical classification of individuals into two categories, male and female, based on perceived biological organs of reproduction, thereby requiring the denial of all other combinations of these two sets of internal and external organs; 2). the act of reproduction.

Sexual identity– pursuit of intimate relationships and community formations with other people based on their sex in relation to your own; either heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transsexual or omnisexual.

Sexuality– the individual and infinite set of behaviors and feelings associated with giving and receiving pleasure; a way of being in the world.