Abstract
Critical race theory (CRT) originated in the late 1980s, emerging from the legal academy of the US in response to the continuing legacy of racial stratification and subordination in both cultural and material terms, even decades after the civil rights movements and the antidiscrimination laws of the 1960s. These origins were a response both to internal conditions of racial power and privilege within the legal academy and scholarship as well as to external conditions of social inequality and injustice based on racial subordination across society at large (Cho and Westley, 2002; Crenshaw, 2002). Since then, these two dimensions of social consciousness have framed ‘outsider’1 engagement with law, at the same time as inverting a traditional ‘law and society’ logic by bringing a particular understanding of society to law, thus informing the critically raced accounting of the ‘socio’ of socio-legal scholarship that is the subject of this chapter. It follows that this ‘socio-legal’ approach brings a distinctive understanding of the relationship between society and law that differs from other socio-legal approaches. This chapter reviews the development and distinctive contributions that CRT and Latina/o-crictical theory (LatCrit) scholarship have made to this relation, identifying ten key hallmarks that characterize this still young body of work.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson, R J (2009) ‘From Imperial Scholar to Imperial Student: Minimizing Bias in Article Evaluation by Law Reviews’ 20 Hastings Women’s Law Journal 197–244
Bell, D A Jr (1980) ‘Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest–Convergence Dilemma’ 93 Harvard Law Review 518–33
Bell, D A Jr (1990) ‘After We’re Gone: Prudent Speculations on America in a Post-Racial Epoch’ 34 St Louis University Law Journal 393–406
Bender, S W and F Valdes (2011) ‘At and Beyond Fifteen: Mapping LatCrit Theory, Community, and Praxis’ 14 Harvard Latino Law Review 397–446
Black, C (1992) ‘Buchanan Beckons Conservatives to Come “Home”’ Boston Globe, 18 August, p. 12
Chang, R S and K Aoki (1998) ‘Centering the Immigrant in the Inter/National Imagination’ 85 California Law Review 1395–48/10 La Raza Law Journal 309–61
Cho, S (2009) ‘Post-Racialism’ 94 Iowa Law Review 1589–650
Cho, S and R Westley (2002) ‘Historicizing Critical Race Theory’s Cutting Edge: Key Movements that Performed the Theory’ in F Valdes, J Culp McCristal and A Harris (eds), Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory (Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press), pp. 32–70
Crenshaw, K (1989) ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’ University of Chicago Legal Forum 139–68
Crenshaw, K (1990) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color’ 43 Stanford Law Review 1241–300
Crenshaw, K (2002) ‘The First Decade: Critical Reflections, or “A Foot in the Closing Door”’, in F Valdes, J Culp McCristal and A Harris (eds), Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory (Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press), pp. 9–31
Culp, J M, A P Harris and F Valdes (2003) ‘Subject Unrest’ 55 Stanford Law Review 2435–52
Davis, A D (1999) ‘The Private Law of Race and Sex: An Antebellum Perspective’ 51 Stanford Law Review 221–88
Delgado, R (1984) ‘Imperial Scholar: Reflections on a Review of Civil Rights Literature’ 132 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 561–78
Delgado, R (1989) ‘Minority Law Professors’ Lives: The Bell–Delgado Survey’ 24 Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review 349–92
Dudziak, M (2000) Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press)
Ely, J (1980) Democracy and Distrust: A Theory of Judicial Review (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press)
Feldman, S M (2004) ‘The Transformation of an Academic Discipline: Law Professors in the Past and Future (or Toy Story Too)’ 54 Journal of Legal Education 471–98
Freeman, A D (1978) ‘Legitimizing Racial Discrimination through Antidiscrimination Law: A Critical Review of Supreme Court Doctrine’ 62 Minnesota Law Review 1049–120
Gómez, L E (2004) A Tale of Two Genres: On the Real and Ideal Links Between Law and Society and Critical Race Theory (Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing)
Gómez, L E (2007) Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race (New York: New York University Press)
Gómez, L E (2010) ‘Understanding Law and Race as Mutually Constitutive: An Invitation to Explore an Emerging Field’ 6 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 487–505
Gonzalez, C G (2006) ‘Deconstructing the Mythology of Free Trade: Critical Reflections on Comparative Advantage’ 17 Berkeley La Raza Law Journal 65–94
Gordon, R (2000) ‘Critical Race Theory and International Law: Convergence and Divergence’ 45 Villanova Law Review 827–40
Gotanda, N (1991) ‘A Critique of “Our Constitution is Color-Blind”’ 44 Stanford Law Review 1–68
Infanti, A (2011) ‘Inequitable Administration: Documenting Family for Tax Purposes’ 22 Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 329–429
Haney López, I F (1996) White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race (New York: New York University Press)
Harris, A P (1990) ‘Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory’ 42 Stanford Law Review 581–616
Harris, C I (1993) ‘Whiteness as Property’ 106 Harvard Law Review 1707–91.
Hernández-Truyol, B E (1991) ‘Building Bridges–Latinas and Latinos at the Crossroads: Realities, Rhetoric and Replacement’ 25 Columbia Human Rights Law Review 369–434
Hernández-Truyol, B E (2005) ‘Globalized Citizenship: Sovereignty, Security and Soul’ 50 Villanova Law Review 1009–62
Hernández-Truyol, B E, A P Harris and F Valdes (2006) ‘Beyond the First Decade: A Forward-Looking History of LatCrit Theory, Community and Praxis’ 26 Chicano-Latino Law Review 237–98
Hutchinson, D (1997) ‘Out Yet Unseen: A Racial Critique of Gay and Lesbian Legal Theory and Political Discourse’ 29 Connecticut Law Review 561–646
Jordan, M (1991) ‘The NLRB Racial Discrimination Decisions 1935–64: The Empiric Process of Administration and the Inner Eye of Racism’ 24 Connecticut Law Review 55–96
Kang, J (2005) ‘Trojan Horses of Race’ 118 Harvard Law Review 1489–593
Lawrence, C R (1987) ‘The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism’ 39 Stanford Law Review 317–88
Lawrence, C R (1995) ‘Race, Multiculturalism, and the Jurisprudence of Transformation’ 47 Stanford Law Review 819–48
Lawrence, C R (2001) ‘Two Views of the River: A Critique of the Liberal Defense of Affirmative Action’ 101 Columbia Law Review 928–[ii]
Lopez, G (1992) Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano’s Vision of Progressive Law Practice (Boulder CO: Westview Press)
Llewellyn, K (1930) The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and its Study (New York: Oceana)
MacKinnon, C A (1987) Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press)
Mahmud, T (1999) ‘Colonialism and Modern Constructions of Race: A Preliminary Inquiry’ 53 University of Miami Law Review 1219
Matsuda, M J (1987) ‘Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations’ 22 Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review 323–400
Merritt, D J (2010) ‘Piercing the Brilliant Veil: Two Stories of American Racism’ 85 Indiana Law Journal 1255–60
Montoya, M and F Valdes (2008) ‘ “Latinas/os” and Latina/o Legal Studies: A Critical Review of Legal Knowledge-Production Models’ 4 Florida International University Law Review 187–254
Roithmayr, D (1997) ‘Deconstructing the Distinction between Bias and Merit’ 85 California Law Review 1449–508
Rubenfeld, J (2002) ‘The Anti-Antidiscrimination Agenda’ 111 Yale Law Journal 1141–78
Symposium (1987) ‘Minority Critiques of the Critical Legal Studies Movement’ 22 Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review 297
Symposium (1989) ‘Legal Storytelling’ 87 Michigan Law Review 2073
Symposium (2000) ‘Critical Race Theory and International Law’ 45 Villanova Law Review 827
Symposium (2003) ‘Fiss’s Way: The Scholarship of Owen Fiss’ 58 University of Miami Law Review 1
Symposium (2011) ‘Critical Race Theory: A Commemoration’ 43 Connecticut Law Review 1253
Thomas, C (2000) ‘Globalization and the Reproduction of Hierarchy’ 33 University California Davis Law Review 1451–502
Thomas, K (1992) ‘Rouge et Noir Reread: A Popular Constitutional History of the Angelo Herndon Case’ 65 Southern California Law Review 2599–704
Valdes, F (1995) ‘Queers, Sissies, Dykes and Tomboys: Deconstructing the Conflation of “Sex,” “Gender” and “Sexual Orientation” in Euro-American Law and Society’ 83 California Law Review 1–377
Valdes, F (2000) ‘Outsider Scholars, Legal Theory and OutCrit Perspectivity: Postsubordination Vision as Jurisprudential Method’ 49 DePaul Law Review 831–46
Westley, R (1998) ‘Many Billions Gone: Is it Time to Reconsider the Case for Black Reparations?’ 40 Boston College Law Review 429–76
Wildman, S (1984) ‘Legitimation of Sex Discrimination: A Critical Response to Supreme Court Jurisprudence’ 63 Oregon Law Review 265–308
Wing, A K (2000) Global Critical Race Feminism (New York: New York University Press)
Wing, A K (2003) Critical Race Feminism (New York: New York University Press)
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Francisco Valdes
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Valdes, F. (2013). Bringing Society to Law: A Critically Raced Accounting. In: Feenan, D. (eds) Exploring the ‘Socio’ of Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-31463-5_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-31463-5_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-88427-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31463-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)