FOR RELEASE: April 20, 1999
Contact: Linda Myers
Office: (607) 255-9735
Home: (607) 277-5035
E-Mail: [email protected]
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http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- While flag burning, bra burning and Robert Mapplethorpe's racy photographs have tested the limits of free speech over the past few decades, a Cornell Law School professor applauds these active demonstrations of dissent and explains why we should too.
Steven H. Shiffrin, an authority on First Amendment rights, argues in his new book Dissent, Injustice, and the Meanings of America (Princeton University Press, 1999) that free speech and dissent are core American values that we should encourage, not merely tolerate. Shiffrin contends, however, that our nation's major institutions -- including the Supreme Court and the mass media -- wrongly limit dissent. He faults "corporate domination and the role of money in the political process" for interfering with our First Amendment rights, and he asserts that we'd be better off as a nation if we were able to ensure that everyone with a stake in our nation had an equal voice.
It's not surprising that a multicultural nation like the United States has multiple meanings, observes Shiffrin, with even one of our names -- America -- interpreted differently by different groups. "My argument is that a dissent-focused perspective of the First Amendment offers richer insights into the meanings of America," he says.
Throughout the book, Shiffrin emphasizes the social functions of dissent, such as its role in combating injustice and its place in cultural struggles over the meanings of America. He advances his dissent-based theory of free speech with careful reference to its implications for such controversial topics of constitutional debate as flag burning -- which he defends -- cigarette advertising, racist speech and the censorship of government-subsidized art. He shows that a dissent-based approach offers strong protection for free speech but still allows for certain limitations on activities such as hate speech and commercial speech. He also contends that a dissent perspective is superior to other approaches because it may weaken dogmatic movements such as politically correct speech that limit free speech and have divided our society in recent years.
Frederick Schauer, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said the book would reinforce Shiffrin's position as the leading progressive theorist on free speech. He praised Shiffrin for his positive view about dissent, in particular for recognizing that "the values of free speech are often as importantly served by active 'institutional promotion' as by an opposition to censorship."
Georgetown University Professor Robin West called Shiffrin's book a "fundamental reorientation" of our thinking on the First Amendment and the free speech it protects. She described the 204-page volume as "a well-rendered account of an embattled national vision: a vision of what it might mean to be an engaged participant in civic life, to be an independent thinker and ultimately to be an American."
For more information about Dissent, Injustice, and the Meanings of America, contact Shiffrin at (607) 255-4560; or e-mail: [email protected].
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.
-- Princeton University Press: http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/
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