THE CULTURAL TURNCritical Legal Studies and

Critical Legal Studies

1977 – University of Wisconsin – Madison Noted CLS theorists: Roberto Mangabeira

Unger, Robert W. Gordon, Morton J. Horwitz, Duncan Kennedy, and Catharine A. MacKinnon.

British CLS movement: grew as part of a number of conferences,

especially the Critical Legal Conference and the National Critical Lawyers Group

Theoretical Roots

Critical Marxism (Lukacs, Gramsci, Sartre) and the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer and Marcuse)

Legal Realism Deconstructionism

Derrida (Literary Theory) Post-structuralism

Foucault (History)

The Vietnam War

Civil Rights Movement

Feminism/Women’s Liberation

May 1968

Postmodernism

Where is the Radical Left today?

WHERE YOU STAND DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU SIT.

American Critical Race

Theorist Law Professor Black Woman

Woman Feminist Law Professor White Mother

Man Critical Legal

Studies Theorist (for our purposes)

Law Professor Latin-American

“I just don’t remember it as being that bad”

Sense of empowerment defines relation to law.

Rights are one among many values that we hold dear.

or

Why we should not pigeonhole.

« RIGHTS »

Source de :contrôle/limiteOuprotection/liberté

Vie en Société

Tensionentre l’individu et la collectivité

Libéralisme

La Société : Un ensemble de citoyens porteurs de droits

Le rôle des droits

Inutilité vs. « Empowerment »

Les droits, ces relations sociales

La grande réconciliation…

Unger & Nedelsky : Interdependence & contextualisation

Williams & Nedelsky : Affirmation des droits comme source de justice

What does Williams’ story about renting and apartment in New York tell us about image and relationships? How does this shed light on her critique of CLS? What can Nedelsky’s argument bring to this picture?

Are rights in the U.S. and rights in Canada fundamentally different as Nedelsky suggests, or does the difference lie in how we conceive of them? What does culture have to do with the way we conceive of rights?

Williams writes that " These differences in experience between blacks and whites [...] are differences firmly rooted in race, and in the unconsciousness of racism. It is only in acknowledging this difference, however, that one can fully appreciate the underlying common ground of the radical left and the historically oppressed: the desire to heal a profound existential disillusionment."

Do you agree? Has there generally been a disconnect between the radical left's quest for social reform and the plight of the historically disempowered?

Alternative Social Charter Solution aux problèmes de

discrimination systèmique Objectif: Permettre à tous les citoyens

Canadien de participer pleinement et également à la société et d’être traîté avec respect et dignité

Dialogue de « democratic accountability »: Création d’un tribunal dont la jurisdiction serait les plaintes d’infractions systémiques