Making Rights Real: Activists, Bureaucrats, and the Creation of the Legalistic State (Chicago Series in Law and Society) - Softcover

Epp, Charles R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226211657 ISBN 13: 9780226211657

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2010

Synopsis

It’s a common complaint: the United States is overrun by rules and procedures that shackle professional judgment, have no valid purpose, and serve only to appease courts and lawyers. Charles R. Epp argues, however, that few Americans would want to return to an era without these legalistic policies, which in the 1970s helped bring recalcitrant bureaucracies into line with a growing national commitment to civil rights and individual dignity.

Focusing on three disparate policy areas—workplace sexual harassment, playground safety, and police brutality in both the United States and the United Kingdom—Epp explains how activists and professionals used legal liability, lawsuit-generated publicity, and innovative managerial ideas to pursue the implementation of new rights. Together, these strategies resulted in frameworks designed to make institutions accountable through intricate rules, employee training, and managerial oversight. Explaining how these practices became ubiquitous across bureaucratic organizations, Epp casts today’s legalistic state in an entirely new light.

About this title

About the Author

Charles R. Epp is associate professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226211657
• ISBN 13: 9780226211657
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 367