Wrestling with the New Economy

Judicial Rhetoric in Canadian Wrongful Dismissal Claims

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12175643
AutoresAnnette Nierobisz (Carleton College, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen35
Número02
Páginas403-449
Fecha de publicación2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLaw & Social Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0897-6546 • E-ISSN: 1747-4469
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1747-4469.2010.01190.x
OpenAlexW1916853817
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas31

Contemporary Law and Society scholars emphasize focused study of “law and the economy” yet empirical work on the legal implications of important economic transformations of the late twentieth century is limited. To address this issue, I analyze Canadian wrongful dismissal claims heard to judgment between 1981 and 1997 to understand how judges grappled with contradictions that arose between classic legal doctrine on the employment relationship, unstable economic conditions that limited employment opportunities for plaintiffs, and new business ideologies about employee expendability and flexibility. Findings demonstrate that judicial rhetoric was attentive to the contradictions that arose with the new economy, and unique responses were developed. These responses, however, varied according to specific socioeconomic contexts embedded within the seventeen‐year period under study. I conclude by suggesting the development of more dynamic theories of law and the economy to capture the ways in which law shifts in response to changing economic contexts

Dismissal · Doctrine · Economics · Ideology · Judicial opinion · Labour law · Plaintiff · Political science · Rhetoric · Sociology · Unfair dismissal · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Legal and Social Philosophy · Organizational Downsizing and Restructuring