Justice in the United States ― Human Rights and the U.S. Constitution

Boldly declaring, "When it comes to having rights and freedoms, Americans are regrettably at least a quarter of a century behind most everyone else in the world," the authors (both affiliated with Sociologists without Borders) present a critical and comparative reading of the US Constitution, emphasizing the issue of human (including economic) rights, rather than simply political and civil rights. After examining national and international treatment of rights, they present an updating of Plato's The Republic which touches upon such ideas as constitutional rights in a world without capitalism and describe their own exercise in amending the US Constitution such that it protects a wider range of human rights. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Judith Blau is professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, and is chair of the interdisciplinary program in Social and Economic Justice. While she has worked in various specialties within sociology, her interests now focus on how to expand sociological queries about human rights, justice, cultural diversity, and equity. She is president of the U.S. Chapter of Sociologists without Borders, and co-editor (with Alberto Moncada) of Without Borders, and former editor of Social Forces. Alberto Moncada is President of Sociologists without Borders. He has been professor at the University of Madrid, Stanford, and elsewhere, and has been a consultant for UNESCO, the European Council, and the Organization of American States. His many books (in Spanish) cover a great variety of areas: Latinos in the US, media, education, culture and the arts, sexuality, Spanish politics, and religion.