Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism (Law and Society) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0774812877 ISBN 13: 9780774812870

Publisher: UBC Press, 2007

Synopsis

Recent years have seen the retrenchment of Canadian social programs and the restructuring of the welfare state along neo-liberal lines. Social programs at both the federal and the provincial levels have been cut back, eliminated, or recast in exclusionary and punitive forms. Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism responds to these changes by examining the ideas and practices of human rights, citizenship, legislation, and institution-building that are crucial to addressing poverty in this country.

The essays in this volume investigate current trends in social, political, and legal anti-poverty activism. They challenge prevailing assumptions about the role of governments and the methods of accountability in the field of social and economic justice. Through their analysis of rights advocacy and the interconnectedness of law and politics, the contributors also demonstrate that the fight for social and economic justice is vibrant and of critical importance.

About this title

About the Author:

Margot Young is an associate professor and Susan Boyd holds the Chair in Feminist Legal Studies in the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. Gwen Brodsky and Shelagh Day are directors of the Poverty and Human Rights Centre in Vancouver.

Review:

Dry legal scholarship is rarely as infused with compassion as it is in this book. The 18 individually authored chapters are written by legal scholars and practitioners, social activists and professionals who are waging an ongoing struggle against Canadian poverty. ...the chapters are thoughtful, insightful, and often compelling as well as Canadian-centric. (A. F. Johnson, Bishop's University Choice, Vol. 45, No. 05 2008-01-02)

In this volume, editors Margot Young, Susan B. Boyd, Gwen Brodsky, and Shelagh Day bring together a collection of essays intended to stimulate continued social, political, and legal anti-poverty activism or social justice. [...] In total, this volume is an indispensable resource for scholars endeavoring to widen their understanding of social citizenship, poverty, and rights in ways that intertwine social policy and law. As well, some or all of the chapters will make valuable additions to graduate course syllabi n poverty, social movements, social policy, and he welfare state. (Amber Gazso, York University Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol.33, No. 3, 2008 2008-01-01)

This collection transitions effortlessly between legal analysis, political commentary, and human rights advocacy. Featuring twenty different authors representing a range of interests and expertise, this collection provides a wide breadth of review on this topic ... This collaboration presents an important discussion on the range of barriers to equality which are found in Canadian society, particularly the Canadian judicial system. (Alison Forbes Saskatchewan Law Review, Vol.71, 2008 2008-01-02)

Recent years have seen the retrenchment of Canadian social programs and the restructuring of the welfare state along neo-liberal lines. Social programs at both the federal and the provincial levels have been cut back, eliminated, or recast in exclusionary and punitive forms. Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism responds to these changes by examining the ideas and practices of human rights, citizenship, legislation, and institution-building that are crucial to addressing poverty in this country.

The essays in this volume investigate current trends in social, political, and legal anti-poverty activism. They challenge prevailing assumptions about the role of governments and the methods of accountability in the field of social and economic justice. Through their analysis of rights advocacy and the interconnectedness of law and politics, the contributors also demonstrate that the fight for social and economic justice is vibrant and of critical importance.

About this edition

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0774812877
• ISBN 13: 9780774812870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Young Margot