Rights and social movements in the United States.

The article starts from the centrality of the "language of rights" in American society and culture. It examines their definition their sources, the evolution of their content at different, times and the creation, since the 1970s, of "new rights". It raises questions, such as: what do this new a "rights consciousness" and, the. intense judiciary activity it has. generated tell. us about the evolution of society ? Has the relationship between political and judiciary power changed ? It suggests that the,articulation between rights and social movements is,complex-and contradictory because of the ambivalence of the law.