Zenotypes: On the Modes of Reproduction of Critical Lawyers

Publication Date

9-2002

Journal

Social & Legal Studies

Abstract

The article critically examines Images of Law, a book that offers a scathing critique of radical legal academia and its detachment from practical engagement with law and society. It argues that radical legal scholars, despite their ambitious political goals of achieving a socialist society, are constrained by their abstract and disembodied critiques, which fail to meaningfully impact law or legal education. The book’s rhetoric is extreme, advocating for the seizure of law through disruptive tactics, but its vision of liberation remains unrealized due to its rejection of both law and the state. The article suggests that the radical legal academic’s cloistered existence in jurisprudence and theory undermines their ability to effect change, highlighting a broader tension between critique and action in legal scholarship.

Volume

11

Issue

3

First Page

425

Last Page

444

Publisher

SAGE Publications

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/096466390201100310

Disciplines

International Law | Law | Law and Gender | Law and Politics | Law and Society | Legal History

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