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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

Catherine R. Albiston
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Summary

THE STORY OF THE FMLA IS A FAMILIAR ONE IN MANY WAYS. New rights promise to change society in fundamental ways that will help eradicate inequality. In reality, however, individuals fail to mobilize these rights, or when they do, their claims are seldom successful. Organizational priorities, power differentials, the influence of family and friends, the inherent conservatism of courts, and the clash between rights and other normative systems all create obstacles to social change. As a result, these new rights fail to live up to their potential. This facile summary, however, does not capture the structural and institutional mechanisms in play in the mobilization process, mechanisms that this study seeks to illuminate. Examining these mechanisms is a way to begin to make theoretical sense of the myriad obstacles to rights mobilization identified in previous research, and to begin to consider systematically the conditions under which these obstacles might be overcome.

The FMLA responds to complex problems that arise from significant institutional change. Longstanding historical relationships among work, gender, and disability have begun to shift with changes in the labor market, in family structure, in women's workforce participation, and in the social understanding of what disability is and what it means. Yet the FMLA is often portrayed as a straightforward regulation of workplace practices, and resistance to this new law could easily be dismissed as merely the continuing influence of persistent stereotypes about the abilities of women, mothers, and people with disabilities.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • Conclusion
  • Catherine R. Albiston, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book: Institutional Inequality and the Mobilization of the Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781179.007
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  • Conclusion
  • Catherine R. Albiston, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book: Institutional Inequality and the Mobilization of the Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781179.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Catherine R. Albiston, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book: Institutional Inequality and the Mobilization of the Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781179.007
Available formats
×