Family Responsibilities Discrimination and the New Institutionalism: The Interactive Process Through Which Legal and Social Factors Produce Institutional Change

Authors

Marcy C. Still

Abstract

The recent formal adoption of both the logic and language of legal and work/family activists by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) legitimized the issue of workplace discrimination against employees with family caregiving responsibilities and conferred credibility crucial for triggering social change. In this Article, the Author examines the social and legal process leading to such an important action on the part of the U.S. government by identifying key change agents involved: legal intellectuals, the media, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, work/life activists, and hybrid political organizations. The Author then draws from new institutionalist theory to consider whether substantive social change has occurred, and, if not, where we might look to see such change.

Recommended Citation

Marcy C. Still, Family Responsibilities Discrimination and the New Institutionalism: The Interactive Process Through Which Legal and Social Factors Produce Institutional Change, 59 Hastings L.J. 1491 (2008).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol59/iss6/7