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Postmodernism, Protest, and the New Social Movements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Joel F. Handler
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Extract

My subject is postmodern politics and law, protest from below, and the “new” social movements. The question I am concerned with is the value of postmodernism for transformative politics.

Scholars concerned with the struggles of subordinate groups have long emphasized protest from below. Accounts of the resistance of blacks and poor people became prominent in the 1960s. This tradition, joined by feminists, gays and lesbians, as well as others, continued in the 1980s. The new social movements are, roughly, environmental, antinuclear, peace, feminist, and gay and lesbian. Whether these broad movements are "new" or variations of older movements is much debated. For our purposes, they are included here insofar as they are antimaterialist, antistatist, antibureaucratic; they seek to cross traditional class lines in favor of humanistic, interpersonal, and communitarian values.

Type
The Presidential Address, 1992
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , 1992 , pp. 697 - 731
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

This essay is an expanded version of my presidential address, Law & Society Association Annual Meeting, 27–31 May 1992, Philadelphia, Pa. I wish to thank William Forbath, Austin Sarat, Susan Silbey, Lucie White, and the UCLA Faculty Colloquium.

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