The State, the Unions, and the Critical Synthesis in Labor Law History: A 25-Year Retrospect

Labor History, Vol.54, No.2, pp.208-221, 2013

UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2013-143

21 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2013 Last revised: 18 Oct 2013

See all articles by Christopher Tomlins

Christopher Tomlins

University of California, Berkeley - Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program

Date Written: October 15, 2013

Abstract

This article responds to Jean-Christian Vinel’s assessment of the ‘critical synthesis’ whose proponents created labor law history as a new and flourishing field of scholarship in the decade after 1978. Vinel accords my book, The State and the Unions (1985) a key role in the development of this new field. Here, I situate my book in relation to the critical synthesis, and assess the capacity of critical legal scholarship to address the current parlous state of the U.S. labor movement. I look to current labor historians to engage with and build on the work that the labor law historians undertook.

Suggested Citation

Tomlins, Christopher, The State, the Unions, and the Critical Synthesis in Labor Law History: A 25-Year Retrospect (October 15, 2013). Labor History, Vol.54, No.2, pp.208-221, 2013, UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2013-143, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2340686

Christopher Tomlins (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program ( email )

Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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