A01=Samuel P. Nelson
Author_Samuel P. Nelson
Category=JPVH
civil rights and liberties
constitutional law
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
first amendment
free speech
freedom of expression
legal theory
liberal theory
pluralism
politics and current events
Product details
- ISBN 9780801881732
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 Aug 2005
- Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Americans often believe that the First Amendment and free speech are synonymous and that all restrictions on speech can be addressed by the legal framework of the First Amendment. Political theorist Samuel P. Nelson argues that the current legal framework for free speech actually undermines attempts to resolve many of these issues and that the law of the First Amendment has supplanted the vital politics of free speech. To cut through the confusion, Nelson takes a step back from the First Amendment framework to understand the social nature of speech, moving toward a more pluralistsic and value-based understanding. He examines three philosophies commonly used to justify speech protection-libertarianism, expressivism, and egalitarianism-and finds none of them sufficiently responsive in today's contemporary political landscape. Advocating an approach grounded in value pluralism-which describes a wider variety of free speech claims than the First Amendment allows-Nelson pushes the debate beyond constitutional and legal questions.
Samuel P. Nelson is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toledo.
