The law, in terms of both theory and application, attempts to balance the rights of the individual with the requirements of society for order and stability (Friedrichs, 2006). Private conflict in terms of equality and the law and property rights are two of the critical areas in which law functions to establish normative systems in which private conflict impacting upon the public sector is reduced if not entirely ameliorated. In essence, law operates as a mediating force designed to reduce the ultimate impact of private conflict on the common good and the social contract.
Equal rights and equality are difficult concepts in that the law is challenged to prevent any kind of discrimination from occurring in society - in education, in the workplace, in residential access, and so forth. To assume that any private conflicts over such rights do not negatively impact upon the public good, the law has been modified many times. For example, specific Amendments to the U.S. Constitution address issues such as voting rights for all regardless of race, gender or ethnicity and national origin (if one is a naturalized U.S. citizen). The Bill of Rights is the normative framework on which such rights are based, but they are also affirmed in subsequent legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Friedrichs, 2006).
Preventing discrimination against the disabled is prohibited by the Americans With Disabilities Act,
While workplace discrimination is prohibited by Affirmative Action programs and is overseen by the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and its authorizing legislation. The goal of these laws is to ensure that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, or disability have an equal set of opportunities for participation in various systems (i.e., educational, economic, political and so forth). While critics of such laws argue that insufficient pr...