The moral order in family mediation: negotiating competing values

Abstract

We used Discourse Analysis to study how mediators and parties negotiate competing priorities and values during the family mediation process. We drew on understandings of practical morality, and specifically the concept of a moral order, to study UK mediation session talk. Our analysis highlighted the contradictory moral orders drawn on by parties and mediators. The saliency of moral categories and concerns in parenting is demonstrated, and we consider the problems this causes in the “no fault” context of mediation.