Institutional Inequality and the Mobilization of the Family and Medical Leave Act: Rights on Leave

Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 17
1 Institutions, Inequality, and the Mobilization of Rights......Page 19
The FMLA and American Family and Disability Policy......Page 22
Rights Mobilization and Social Change......Page 29
The Institutional Context of Rights Mobilization......Page 35
2 The Social Institution of Work......Page 43
Work as a Social Institution......Page 45
Inequality and the Characteristics of the Social Institution of Work......Page 50
A Genealogy of the Institution of Work: Modernity and Transformation......Page 53
The Reorganization of Production......Page 55
The Legal Construction of Time Standards and Employer Control......Page 59
Institutionalizing Inequality......Page 62
Gender......Page 63
Disability......Page 73
The Social Meaning of Work, Gender, and Disability......Page 79
Institutional Inequality and the Eroding Social Foundations of Work......Page 80
3 Institutional Inequality and Legal Reform......Page 87
Civil Rights Responses to the Institution of Work......Page 89
Title VII and Its Discontents......Page 91
Legal Challenges by Pregnant Woman Who Can Work......Page 99
Doctrinal Barriers to Restructuring Institutionalized Work Practices......Page 102
The Qualified Promise of Disparate Impact Theories......Page 110
The Failure to Contemplate Family Life......Page 119
Moving Beyond Antidiscrimination Models......Page 123
Cultural versus Legal Conceptions of Disability and the ADA......Page 125
Legal and Social Meanings of Disability......Page 130
Disabled Worker as a Cultural Oxymoron......Page 136
Judicial Resistance to Accommodations That Change Time Standards......Page 141
Restructuring Work through the FMLA......Page 152
Conclusion......Page 164
4 Mobilizing the FMLA in the Workplace: Rights, Institutions, and Social Meaning......Page 167
Rational Actor Models......Page 168
Sociolegal Alternatives to Rational Actor Models......Page 170
Institutional Perspectives on Rights Mobilization......Page 171
Method and Data......Page 173
The Process of Rights Mobilization in the Workplace......Page 175
Information Control, Agents of Transformation, and Worker Solidarity......Page 176
Law as a Symbolic Resource in Leave Negotiations......Page 183
Family Wage Ideology......Page 185
Slackers and Workers......Page 192
Managerial Norms and Needs......Page 196
Conclusion......Page 199
5 Mobilizing Rights in the Courts: The Paradox of Losing by Winning......Page 205
Why Do Ordinary Court Cases Matter for Social Change?......Page 207
The Litigation Process and the Evolution of Rights......Page 210
Settlement and Selection Bias......Page 211
Rule-Making Opportunities in the Litigation Process......Page 217
Motions to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim......Page 220
Summary Judgment Motions......Page 222
Jury Trial and Trial-Related Motions......Page 224
Appeals......Page 225
The Winnowing Process......Page 226
Data and Method......Page 228
Distribution of Procedural Posture in Early Opinions......Page 231
Distribution of Outcomes by Procedural Posture in Early Cases......Page 232
Appeals......Page 235
Public Interest and Government Participation......Page 240
Early Opinions and the Interpretive Path of the Law......Page 242
The Paradox of Losing by Winning......Page 246
Conclusion......Page 253
Rights Mobilization and the Potential for Social Change......Page 263
Appendix A......Page 269
Outline of Open-Ended, Qualitative Interview Questions......Page 277
References......Page 283
Index......Page 301