Law and Economics Against Feminism
Files
Description
Published as Chapter 17 in
This article analyzes feminism in legal theory in relation to the rise of “law and economics” during the late twentieth century as a methodology that generated academic credibility for anti-egalitarian ideology and policy. Law and economics fundamentally undermines feminism in law by constructing the economy as a sphere best governed by efficiency insulated from contested morality and politics. This division naturalizes a gendered baseline that generally makes feminist reforms appear costly and unfair. Finally, the article explores how this core division of law and economics constructs an idea of liberty that makes feminist efforts to remedy gender-based harms appear illegitimate and oppressive. Law and economics cuts against legal feminism not because gender justice is a non-economic goal, but because law and economics promotes a misleading economic ideology steeped in gender and tilted toward those most willing and able to disregard and discount others’ well-being.
Publication Date
6-9-2021
Publisher
Oxford University Press
ISBN
9780197519998
First Page
294
Last Page
312
Keywords
law and economics, feminist economics, neoliberalism, efficiency, redistribution, social reproduction, welfare state, anti-feminism, political economy
Disciplines
Jurisprudence | Law | Law and Society
Recommended Citation
McCluskey, Martha T., "Law and Economics Against Feminism" (2021). Contributions to Books. 444.
https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/book_sections/444
Comments
This record does not contain full text. If available, click on the "DOI" link to see where the full text of the item is located. If you are a UB student, or faculty or staff member and unable to access the full text at the link, try searching for the item in Everything Search (https://search.lib.buffalo.edu/discovery/search?vid=01SUNY_BUF:everything). If not available, request via Delivery+ (https://library.buffalo.edu/delivery/).