ClassCrits IV: Criminalizing Economic Inequality

ClassCrits will hold its 2011 meeting at the American University Washington College of Law on Friday and Saturday, September 23-24, 2011. The conference theme is ClassCrits IV: Criminalizing Economic Inequality and features professors and practitioners from across the nation critically examining economic inequality in the United States. The event is free of charge and open to the public, though registration is required.

"ClassCrits are a network of scholars and activists interested in critical analysis of law and the economy. The global economic crisis, along with growing economic inequality and insecurity, suggests it is time to explore alternatives to the neoclassical or “free market” economic paradigm, often identified with the U.S. “Law and Economics” movement. ClassCrits aim to revive discussions of questions of class pushed to the margins or relegated to the shadowy past, considering the possible meaning and relevance of economic class to the contemporary context. We hope to better integrate the rich diversity of economic methods and theories into law by exploring and engaging non-neoclassical and heterodox economics.

The name “ClassCrits” reflects our interest in focusing on economics through the lens of critical legal scholarship movements, such as critical legal studies, critical feminist theory, critical race theory, LatCrit, and queer theory. That is, we start with the assumption that economics in law is inextricably political and fundamentally tied to questions of systemic status-based subordination."