Interpreting civil rights: Early claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

摘要

While scholars have debated the courts' role in protecting minority rights and addressing claims that will lead to social change, government agencies, not courts, are often the first venue individuals approach to make such claims. However, scholars know little about how individuals claiming a new legal right, interest groups urging the enforcement of the right, and the agency responsible for interpreting the right interact to shape the meaning of the right and role of the institution in enforcing the law. I examine how the interactions among these actors established the boundaries and meaning of a new law and influenced the institutional development of a new governmental agency created to enforce the law.;In this dissertation I ask: What roles did the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and National Organization for Women (NOW) have in the claiming of rights under Title VII by individuals and enforcement of Title VII by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) when the agency was a new institution? How did the claims brought by individuals influence the interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by the EEOC and shape the agency's institutional development? Finally, I ask if the EEOC responses to these claims resulted in remedies for these claims, in political mobilization if claims were rejected, or other outcomes. These questions provide insight into how agencies construct and develop rights.;I study employment discrimination complaints alleging bias on the basis of race, color, and sex submitted to the EEOC, the agency established by Title VII, between July 1965 and June 1968. I address how - and whether - members of underrepresented groups can advance their rights and potentially change societal views through the interactions and legal interpretations that occur between individuals, interest groups, and an agency responsible for the implementation and enforcement of a new civil rights law. I show that interpretations of Title VII resulted in changes in law and society. This illustrates how the politics of rights - the argument that law is not an end in itself - occurs at the agency level, not just in courts.