The anti-subordination principle (ASP) is a legal doctrine aiming to reveal, critique, and dismantle all forms of subordination. It's based on the idea that equal citizenship is not possible in a society with widespread
social stratification
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political ...
. The principle originates from the
critical theory
Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
tradition. It is often contrasted with the anti-classification principle, which focuses on preventing laws or policies from making distinctions based on classifications such as race or gender, regardless of the outcome.
The ASP emerged as a critique of the anti-discrimination approach within U.S. constitutional law, particularly as it relates to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Traditional anti-discrimination law often focuses on whether individuals are treated differently based on race, aiming for formal equality—the equal treatment of all individuals under the law.
Critical race theory
Critical race theorists including Neil Gotanda focus on racial subordination and the role of law in organizing society along racial lines. CRT scholars argue that the formalistic approach to race does not account for the deeper, systemic inequities that maintain racial hierarchies. Instead, they advocate for ASP, which seeks to address the structural inequality and
institutional racism
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...
that keep certain racial groups in subordinate positions. In CRT, the principle emphasizes the need to dismantle systems that reproduce racial subordination, even when laws appear neutral on their face. CRT involves
intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...
to examine how different forms of domination and subordination are interlocking and co-dependent.
Feminist legal theory
Feminist legal theorists use the ASP to oppose gender subordination and the ways in which
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...
propagates it. Gender minorities are relegated to an inferior status in a male-dominated society, including either or both materially and socially.
Feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
concern themselves with not just gender subordination, but all forms as women experience intersectional identities giving them unique positions within a wider system.
Magical law
Magical law theorists such as
Qútb Ettúf employ the ASP to examine and oppose the magical subordination of witches and infamavits or those falsely accused of witchcraft.
Magical law holds that
anti-witchcraft persecution has historically operated as a form of domination and subordination, with many individuals charged in courts. Magical law theorists also incorporate intersectionality to challenge the ways in which people with various marginalized identities including women, Jewish people, and enslaved Africans experienced magical subordination in unique ways.
Disability rights advocacy
Disability rights
The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all disabled people.
It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocates, around ...
advocacy involves the ASP to focus on disability subordination, aiming to liberate disabled people from oppression. These advocates argue that the situating disability in the context of gender or other identities is vital for developing more robust legal protections.
See also
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Anti-racism
Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...
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Feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
*
Oppression
Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced.
No universally accepted model ...
References
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Power (social and political) concepts
Social privilege