Title: Beyond the First Amendment : the politics of free speech and pluralism /
Authors: Nelson, Samuel Peter.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Freedom of speech United States; Freedom of speech Social aspects.; Freedom of speech Political aspects.
Abstract: "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." -- Provided by publisher.
Contents: The First Amendment framework -- Public debate and the libertarian justification -- Self-realization and the expressivist justification -- Equality and the egalitarian justification -- A model of free speech justifications -- Speech acts -- The pluralist framework for freedom of speech -- Free speech claims under the pluralist framework.