Guarding Life's Dark Secrets

Lawrence M. Friedman

Published by Stanford University Press 2007

Guarding Life's Dark Secrets

Legal and Social Controls over Reputation, Propriety, and Privacy

Lawrence M. Friedman

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804763219

Overview
Contents

About this book

Guarding Life's Dark Secrets tells the story of an intriguing aspect of the social and legal culture in the United States, the construction and destruction of a network of doctrines designed to protect reputation. The strict and unbending rules of decency and propriety of the nineteenth century, especially concerning sexual behavior, paradoxically provided ways to protect and shield respectable men and women who deviated from the official norms. This "Victorian compromise," which created an important zone of privacy, first came under attack from moralists for its tolerance of sin. During the second half of the twentieth century, the old structure was largely dismantled by an increasingly permissive society. Rich with anecdotes, Friedman's account draws us into the present. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to include a right of privacy, which has given ordinary people increased freedom, especially in matters of sex, reproduction, and choice of intimate partners. The elite, however, no longer have the freedom they once had to violate decency rules with impunity. Although public figures may have lost some of their privacy rights, ordinary people have gained more privacy, greater leeway, and broader choices. These gains, however, are now under threat as technology transforms the modern world into a world of surveillance.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1 The General Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Status and Mobility in the Nineteenth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
3 Sticks and Stones: The Law of Defamation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
4 The Victorian Compromise: Slippage and Control in the Moral Laws Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
5 The Anatomy of Blackmail Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
6 Good Women, Bad Women: Seduction, Breach of Promise, and Related Matters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
7 Censorship: Its Rise and Fall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
8 Into the Twentieth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
9 Privacy and Reputation in the Late Twentieth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
10 Defamation in Contemporary Times Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
11 A Summing Up—And a Cautious Look at the Future Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	331

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 360
Keywords: Law -- Law and Society; History -- United States

eBook

Published: January 21, 2022
ISBN: 9780804763219