Critical Legal Studies
비판법학 (CLS)
A critical jurisprudence movement demonstrating that law is not neutral or determinate, but inherently ideological and contradictory, functioning to legitimate existing social and class hierarchies.
| Field | Law · Political Science |
|---|---|
| Level of analysis | Macro · Structures & Institutions |
| Paradigm | Critical Theory Post-Structuralism |
| Key figures | 👤 Roberto Mangabeira Unger (로베르토 웅거) 👤 Duncan Kennedy (던컨 케네디) |
| Year | 1977 |
Key Claims
Critical Legal Studies (CLS) scholars like Roberto Unger and Duncan Kennedy argued that law is politics by other means. Because legal doctrine is fundamentally indeterminate and riddled with internal contradictions, legal reasoning serves to reify existing power relations and disguise contingent political choices as natural and objective.
Further Reading
- Unger, R. M. (1983). The Critical Legal Studies Movement. Harvard University Press.
- Kennedy, D. (1976). Form and substance in private law adjudication. Harvard Law Review, 89(8), 1685–1778.
Related theories 3개
A foundational theoretical framework in law addressing Legal Positivism at the macro level of analysis.
A foundational theoretical framework in law addressing Law and Economics at the meso level of analysis.
A foundational theoretical framework in cultural-studies addressing Cultural Hegemony at the macro level of analysis.
Theories pointing to this one 2개
A transformative critical legal and sociological framework asserting that social identities (race, gender, class, sexuality) do not operate independently, but intersect to produce compounding systems of discrimination and privilege.
A structural Marxist theory demonstrating that ideology is a material social practice operating through Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) that "interpellate" concrete individuals as subjects.