Human rights in our own backyard : injustice and resistance in the United States / edited by William T. Armaline, Davita Silfen Glasberg, and Bandana Purkayastha.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Armaline, William T.

Glasberg, Davita Silfen.

Purkayastha, Bandana, 1956-

Series:

Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights

Pennsylvania studies in human rights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights--United States.

Human rights.

Human rights--Government policy--United States.

Justice.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Most Americans assume that the United States provides a gold standard for human rights-a 2007 survey found that 80 percent of U.S. adults believed that "the U.S. does a better job than most countries when it comes to protecting human rights." As well, discussions among scholars and public officials in the United States frame human rights issues as concerning people, policies, or practices "over there." By contrast, the contributors to this volume argue that many of the greatest immediate and structural threats to human rights, and some of the most significant efforts to realize human rights in practice, can be found in our own backyard.Human Rights in Our Own Backyard examines the state of human rights and responses to human rights issues, drawing on sociological literature and perspectives to interrogate assumptions of American exceptionalism. How do people in the U.S. address human rights issues? What strategies have they adopted, and how successful have these strategies been? Essays are organized around key conventions of human rights, focusing on the relationships between human rights and justice, the state and the individual, civil rights and human rights, and group rights versus individual rights. The contributors are united by a common conception of the human rights enterprise as a process involving not only state-defined and implemented rights but also human rights from below as promoted by activists.

Contents:

pt. I. Economic rights

pt. II. Social rights

pt. III. Cultural rights

pt. IV. Political and civil rights

pt. V. Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination

pt. VI. Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women

pt. VII. Human rights and resistance in the United States.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780812243604

0812243609

9781283891097

1283891093

9780812205145

0812205146

OCLC:

793012601