Debating Rights Inflation in Canada: A Sociology of Human Rights

by Dominique Clément

Overview

Human rights has become the dominant vernacular for framing social problems around the world. In this book, Dominique Clément presents a paradox in politics, law, and social practice: he argues that whereas framing grievances as human rights violations has become an effective strategy, the increasing appropriation of rights-talk to frame any and all grievances undermines attempts to address systemic social problems. His argument is followed by commentator response from several leading human rights scholars and practitioners in Canada and abroad who bridge the divide between academia, public policy, and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771122764
Publisher:	Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date:	10/18/2018
Series:	Canadian Commentaries
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	174
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dominique Clément is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Human Rights in Canada: A History (WLU Press, 2016), Canada’s Rights Revolution, and Equality Deferred, as well as the co-editor of Alberta's Human Rights Story and Debating Dissent. His website, HistoryOfRights.ca, serves as research and teaching portal on the study of human rights.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Rights Inflation in Canada – Dominique Clément

Commentary: The Right Investment in Rights – Nathalie DesRosiers

Commentary: Too Many Rights? – Pearl Eliadis

Commentary: Liberalism, Social Democracy, and Human Rights – Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Commentary: Historical Contingency and Human Rights Pluralism – Gert Verschraegen

Contributors

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

In Canada, as in many other advanced countries, human rights have proliferated, leading many commentators to proclaim that rights have triumphed over other modes of social organization. Perhaps so, but Dominique Clément worries that "rights inflation" beyond the protection of core interests paradoxically interferes with broader efforts to achieve social justice. In this fascinating book, Clément lays out a powerful account of the dark side of the Canadian experience of human rights. Four responses by leading experts give the reader numerous perspectives on this difficult problem.

Eric Posner