Keywords
Discrimination in higher education; Law schools; Neoliberalism; Critical legal studies
Document Type
Commentary
Abstract
Despite valiant endeavours by feminist, critical race, and Queer scholars to transform the legal culture, the transformative project has been limited because of the power of corporatism, a phenomenon deemed marginal to the currently fashionable micropolitical sites of critical scholarship. However, liberal, as well as postmodern scholarship, has largely preferred to ignore the ramifications of the "new economy," which includes a marked political shift to the right, the contraction of the public sphere, the privatization of public goods, globalization, and a preoccupation with efficiency, economic rationalism, and profits. I argue that technical reasoning, or "technocentrism," has enabled corporatism to evade scrutiny. I explore the meaning of "technocentrism," with particular regard to legal education. Because corporate power does not operate from a unitary site, but is diffused, I show how it impacts upon legal education from multiple sites, from outside as well as inside the legal academy in a concerted endeavour to maintain the status quo.
French Abstract
En dépit des tentatives courageuses des universitaires féministes, anti-racistes, et homosexuels, visant à transformer la culture juridique, le projet de transformation a été limité à cause du pouvoir corporatiste. Ce phénomène est considéré marginal par rapport aux domaines d'études critiques micropolitiques actuellement à la mode. Toutefois, la doctrine libéral, à l'instar de la recherche postmoderne, a largement préféré d'ignorer les ramifications de la nouvelle économie, laquelle inclut un changement politique notable vers la droite, une diminution de la sphère publique, la privatisation des biens publics, la globalisation et un souci d'efficacité, de rationalisme économique et de profits. Je soutiens que le raisonnement technique, ou le "technocentrisme," a permis au corporatisme d'échapper à un examen approfondi. J'explore la signification du terme "technocentrisme," d'un point de vue particulier sur la formation juridique. Puisque le pouvoir corporatif n'opère pas d'un lieu unique, mais est diffus, je démontre comment il influence la formation juridique à partir de plusieurs sources, à l'extérieur comme à l'intérieur du milieu juridique académique, dans une tentative concertée de maintenir le statu quo.
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Citation Information
Thornton, Margaret.
"Technocentrism in the Law School: Why the Gender and Colour of Law Remain the Same."
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
36.2 (1998)
: 369-398.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.1566
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol36/iss2/5