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Corporate Identity inCitizens United

Legal Fictions and Anthropological Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID2290490
AuthorsLeo Coleman (The Ohio State University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume37
Issue2
Pages308-328
Publication date2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-6976 • E-ISSN: 1555-2934
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/plar.12077
OpenAlexW1974010828
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

The United States Supreme Court's decision inCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission [2010]from the outset has been a contested, highly politicized case, where judicial interpretation affected more than just election finance law; the majority's opinion explicitly intervened in a wider political struggle over personhood and the boundaries of citizenship. This article moves beyond questions of legal doctrine to highlight the social-theoretical-political contexts of the decision and its consequences for anthropological understanding of American citizenship. I trace how the majority decision appropriated and reshaped a discourse of identity. In its first formulation in social movements, "identity" was offered as a positive basis for rights and inclusion; however, the Court's appropriation reformulated identity on a negative basis, barring both regulation and recognition of identity-based claims by the State. It also went further than a traditional liberal demarcation of rights by specifically attributing agency and authoritative representation to corporate speech. Drawing on previous theoretical discussions of the corporate form and American citizenship and personhood, this article concludes thatCitizens Unitednot only allowed for new corporate power in the political sphere, but actively worked against the flourishing of a more humane and inclusive American citizenship in ways that legal anthropologists may wish to address as a matter of theory as much as politics

Citizenship · Critical legal studies · Identity (music · Legal profession · Legal realism · Personhood · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Supreme court · Anthropological Studies and Insights · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Law · Law in Society and Culture

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Unique citing works4
Citations per year0,5
Citation span2018 - 2025 (8)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
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