Conservative economic ideology lurks below the surface of the current tension between gender and sexuality in some prominent strands of queer legal theory. By exploring this underlying politics of economics, I aim to show how queer theory has tended to adopt and reinforce an uncritical perspective on questions of law and intimacy similar to conservative strands of "liberal" political theory. This new queer flirtation with liberalism is particularly problematic because queer theory claims a position more rigorously critical of liberalism than feminist theory. Queer theory offers an important critique of feminist politics and progressive justice by warning of the limits of a project of identity-based quest for rights and recognition (Weigman, 2004). Nonetheless, the tendency in some queer theory to separate rather than complicate the relationship between economic politics and identity politics, and between market, state, and family, ironically can serve to reinforce the rigid identity conventions and intimacy regulations this queer theory aims to unsettle.. I. Choosing the Right's Sides: Economic and Social Conservativism A. Feminist Theory Questions Autonomy Drawing on and developing feminist theory, Martha Fineman (2004) identifies the myth of autonomy as a central obstacle to justice in contemporary U.S. law and politics. Fineman argues that, in contemporary U.S., policies promoting equality have been sacrificed to a simplistic ideology of individual self-sufficiency. This ideology masks and disparages the
The structure and regulation of the insurance system for financing workers' compensation affects the costs of workers' benefits. Using the example of Maine's insurance market restructuring in response to a crisis of the early 1990s, this commentary explores how changes in insurance regulation might better support the goals of workers' compensation. The commentary analyzes how insurance and its regulation should go beyond correct pricing of risks to questions of how to structure incentives for loss control to include workers' interests as well as the interests of employers and insurers.
People with physical disabilities' in the United States have faced, and continue to struggle against, many social and economic disadvantages. Over the years, laws have explicitly excluded people with disabilities from holding public office,' serving on juries, 3 marrying, 4 working in certain occupations, 5 bearing children,' attending school, 7 and even from being seen on public streets. 8 Even today, people with disabilities are "substan-1. This Note will use the term "disability" in place of "handicap." Although there is disagreement about which term is preferable, many people believe "handicap" carries connotations of inferior status. The phrase "people with disabilities" in place of "disabled people" or "the disabled" emphasizes that people should not be reduced to their disabilities. See NATIONAL EASTER SEAL SOc', PORTRAYING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE MEDIA § I (undated). This Note uses "disability" to include all physical disabilities covered by § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. See 29 U.S.C.A. § 706(8)(B) (West Supp. 1988). Section 504 covers any person who has, is regarded as having, or has a record of having a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of that person's major life activities. Id. Some examples of disabilities included in this definition are hearing impairments, epilepsy, visual impairments, and neuromotor impairments. The discussion in this Note will be limited to physical disabilities, since the issue of equality for people with mental disabilities may raise somewhat different questions. For a discussion of equality in the context of mental disability, see Comment, We Have Met the Imbeciles and They Are Us:
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