Civility, Legality, and Justice in America

This book brings together the work of several distinguished scholars to chart the uses of civility in American legal and political discourse.

Austin Sarat (Edited by)

9781107675599, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 August 2014

177 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.29 kg

Throughout American history, the discourse of civility has proven quite resilient, and concern for a perceived lack of civility has ebbed and flowed in recognizable patterns. Today we are in another era in which political leaders and commentators bemoan a crisis of incivility and warn of civility's demise. Civility, Legality, and Justice in America charts the uses of civility in American legal and political discourse. How important is civility as a legal and political virtue? How does it fare when it is juxtaposed with the claim that it masks injustice? Who advocates civility and to what effect? How are battles over civility played out in legal and political arenas? This book brings the work of several distinguished scholars together to critically assess the relative claims of civility and justice and the way law the weighs those virtues.

Introduction: the meanings and uses of civility Austin Sarat
1. Disagreement, contempt, and the difficult work of liberal civility Teresa M. Bejan and Bryan Garsten
2. Civility and formality Jeremy Waldron
3. Civility and the alien Leti Volpp
4. Against civility: a feminist perspective Linda M. G. Zerilli
Afterword: civility and the politics of sexuality Heather Elliott.

Subject Areas: Law & society [LAQ], Law [L], Politics & government [JP]