Legal Mobilization as a Social Movement Tactic: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity

This article attempts to establish theoretical and methodological links between work on social movements and work on the mobilization of law by analyzing legal mobilization as a social movement tactic-the pursuit of movement goals through "proper channels." Focusing on the movement for equ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sociology 1991-03, Vol.96 (5), p.1201-1225
Main Author: Burstein, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affirmative action
BLACKS, NEGROES, AFRO-AMERICANS, AFRICAN-AMERICANS
Civil rights movements
Class action lawsuits
Collective action
Employment
Employment discrimination
Employment Opportunities
Equal Opportunity
EQUALITY OR INEQUALITY
FEMALE SEX
Gender discrimination
Government
Law
LAW AND LEGAL SYSTEMS
Legislation
Litigation
Minority & ethnic groups
MINORITY GROUPS
MOBILIZATION
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Plaintiffs
Politics and Society
Social activism
Social discrimination
Social Movements
Social research
Women
Working Women
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Summary:This article attempts to establish theoretical and methodological links between work on social movements and work on the mobilization of law by analyzing legal mobilization as a social movement tactic-the pursuit of movement goals through "proper channels." Focusing on the movement for equal employment opportunity (EEO), the article considers how often minorities and women mobilize federal EEO laws in their fight for equal treatment in the marketplace, how often they with their cases, and how victory is related to thier ability to organize and to get help from the federal government. Analysis of one aspect of the mobilization of EEO laws-in the federal appellate courts-leads to some conclusions very much in keeping with recent work on social movements. They are that the relationship between grievances and mobilization is problematic, that blacks remain central to the struggle for equality in the United States, that resources matter for challengers of the status quo, and that the federal government can be extremely important when it chooses to intervene on the side of women and minorities.
ISSN:0002-9602
1537-5390
DOI:10.1086/229653