Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Charles R. Epp
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Dimensions:
Width: 1.60cm
, Height: 0.30cm
, Length: 2.40cm
Weight: 0.595kg
ISBN: 9780226211640
ISBN 10: 0226211649
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 01 February 2010
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely
Availability: Out of stock
Reviews
An elegant study that combines historical, comparative, and at times even ethnographic learning, Making Rights Real reveals how fervor for professionalism and fears of lawsuits together shaped police policies and practices in the United States and in Britain as well as responses to sexual harassment and the safety of playgrounds. It will be indispensable for scholars of the law. - William Haltom, coauthor of Distorting the Law
""An elegant study that combines historical, comparative, and at times even ethnographic learning, Making Rights Real reveals how fervor for professionalism and fears of lawsuits together shaped police policies and practices in the United States and in Britain as well as responses to sexual harassment and the safety of playgrounds. It will be indispensable for scholars of the law."" - William Haltom, coauthor of Distorting the Law""
"""An elegant study that combines historical, comparative, and at times even ethnographic learning, Making Rights Real reveals how fervor for professionalism and fears of lawsuits together shaped police policies and practices in the United States and in Britain as well as responses to sexual harassment and the safety of playgrounds. It will be indispensable for scholars of the law."" - William Haltom, coauthor of Distorting the Law"""
Author Information
Charles R. Epp is associate professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas.
