Cultural Pluralism Identity Politics And The Law

We are witnessing in the last decade of the twentieth century more frequent demands by racial and ethnic groups for recognition of their distinctive histories and traditions as well as opportunities to develop and maintain the institutional infrastructure necessary to preserve them. Where it once seemed that the ideal of American citizenship was found in the promise of integration and in the hope that none of us would be singled out for, let alone judged by, our race or ethnicity, today integration, often taken to mean a denial of identity and history for subordinated racial, gender, sexual or ethnic groups, is often rejected, and new terms of inclusion are sought. The essays in Cultural Pluralism, Identity Politics, and the Law ask us to examine carefully the relation of cultural struggle and material transformation and law's role in both. Written by scholars from a variety of disciplines and theoretical inclinations, the essays challenge orthodox understandings of the nature of identity politics and contemporary debates about separatism and assimilation. They ask us to think seriously about the ways law has been, and is, implicated in these debates. The essays address questions such as the challenges posed for notions of legal justice and procedural fairness by cultural pluralism and identity politics, the role played by law in structuring the terms on which recognition, accommodation, and inclusion are accorded to groups in the United States, and how much of accepted notions of law are defined by an ideal of integration and assimilation. The contributors are Elizabeth Clark, Lauren Berlant, Dorothy Roberts, Georg Lipsitz, and Kenneth Karst.

Combining detailed case studies with discussions of deeper theoretical controversies, Emancipating Cultural Pluralism investigates both the benign and harmful aspects of identity politics. This provocative collection delves into some of the most difficult issues of cultural pluralism, such as what accounts for the immense power of identity politics, whether identity politics can be inherently good or evil, whether states are the right institutions to deal with ethnic conflict, the prevention of genocide, the value of devolving power to the local level, and more. The contributions are united by the conviction that more attention needs to be paid to the normative issues associated with various expressions of cultural pluralism, for the ethical implications of the phenomena are too profound to be ignored.

This new and updated edition of Norgren and Nanda's classic text brings their examination of American cultural pluralism and the law up to date through the Clinton administration. While maintaining their emphasis on the concept of cultural diversity as it relates to the law in the United States, new and updated chapters reflect recent relevant court cases bearing on culture, race, gender, and class, with particular attention paid to local and state court opinions. Drawing on court materials, statutes and codes, and legal ethnographies, the text analyzes the ongoing negotiations and accommodations via the mechanism of law between culturally different groups and the larger society. An important text for courses in American government, society and the law, cultural studies, and civil rights.

This new and updated edition of Norgren and Nanda's classic text brings their examination of American cultural pluralism and the law up to date through the Clinton administration. While maintaining their emphasis on the concept of cultural diversity as it relates to the law in the United States, new and updated chapters reflect recent relevant court cases bearing on culture, race, gender, and class, with particular attention paid to local and state court opinions. Drawing on court materials, statutes and codes, and legal ethnographies, the text analyzes the ongoing negotiations and accommodations via the mechanism of law between culturally different groups and the larger society. An important text for courses in American government, society and the law, cultural studies, and civil rights.

The Cold War ideological battle with universal aspirations has given way to a clash of cultures as the world concurrently moves toward globalization of economies and communications and balkanization through a clash of ethnic and cultural identities. Traditional liberal theory has confronted daunting challenges in coping with these changes and with recent developments such as the spread of postmodern thought, religious fundamentalism and global terrorism. This book argues that a political and legal philosophy based on pluralism is best suited to confront the problems of the twenty-first century. Pointing out that monist theories such as liberalism have become inadequate and that relativism is dangerous, the book makes the case for pluralism from the standpoint of both theory and its applications. The book engages with thinkers, such as Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Rawls, Berlin, Dworkin, Habermas and Derrida and with several subjects that are at the center of current controversies.

This new and updated edition of Norgren and Nanda's classic text brings their examination of American cultural pluralism and the law up to date through the Clinton administration. While maintaining their emphasis on the concept of cultural diversity as it relates to the law in the United States, new and updated chapters reflect recent relevant court cases bearing on culture, race, gender, and class, with particular attention paid to local and state court opinions. Drawing on court materials, statutes and codes, and legal ethnographies, the text analyzes the ongoing negotiations and accommodations via the mechanism of law between culturally different groups and the larger society. An important text for courses in American government, society and the law, cultural studies, and civil rights.

Legal Pluralism in Conflict offers a new theoretical perspective for conceptualising and analysing the relationship between ethnic minority laws and the official legal order. Examining the limits of liberal legal thought in light of a contemporary plurality of ethnic identifications and religious beliefs, Prakash Shah takes up the case for a 'legal pluralism' that views ethnic minority laws in interaction with the official British legal order. This form of legal pluralism is not, however, without conflict. This book pursues a series of case studies that critically consider why and how state laws marginalise ethnic minority legal orders. Legal Pluralism in Conflict contains discussions of the recognition of polygamous marriages, homicide, the expertise provided in immigration cases and the legal discourse of nationality. It is in this engagement with some of the most challenging issues posed by the diverse character of modern society that its author sets out an alternative course for ethnic minority legal studies. Legal Pluralism in Conflict will be invaluable to students and researchers concerned with law's relationship to and treatment of ethnic and religious diversity, as well as to those with wider interests in the limits and possibilities of political pluralism.

How can liberal democracy best be realized in a world fraught with conflicting new forms of identity politics and intensifying conflicts over culture? This book brings unparalleled clarity to the contemporary debate over this question. Maintaining that cultures are themselves torn by conflicts about their own boundaries, Seyla Benhabib challenges the assumption shared by many theorists and activists that cultures are clearly defined wholes. She argues that much debate--including that of "strong" multiculturalism, which sees cultures as distinct pieces of a mosaic--is dominated by this faulty belief, one with grave consequences for how we think injustices among groups should be redressed and human diversity achieved. Benhabib masterfully presents an alternative approach, developing an understanding of cultures as continually creating, re-creating, and renegotiating the imagined boundaries between "us" and "them." Drawing on contemporary cultural politics from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Benhabib develops a double-track model of deliberative democracy that permits maximum cultural contestation within the official public sphere as well as in and through social movements and the institutions of civil society. Agreeing with political liberals that constitutional and legal universalism should be preserved at the level of polity, she nonetheless contends that such a model is necessary to resolve multicultural conflicts. Analyzing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription, and freedom of exit and association. The Claims of Culture offers invaluable insight to all those, whether students or scholars, lawyers or policymakers, who strive to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of cultural politics in the twenty-first century.