History and Turning the Antitrust Page

Present-day advocates of antitrust reform referred to as “New Brandeisians” have invoked history in pressing the case for change. The New Brandeisians bemoan the upending of a mid-twentieth-century “golden age” of antitrust by an intellectual movement known as the Chicago School. In fact, mid-twentieth-century enforcement of antitrust was uneven and large corporations exercised substantial market power. The Chicago School also was not as decisive an agent of change as the New Brandeisians suggest. Doubts about the efficacy of government regulation and concerns about foreign competition did much to foster the late twentieth-century counterrevolution that antitrust experienced.

Mapping Chicago Schools

The idea of the “Chicago school” is first attested as early as 1850, in medicine. It symbolized a way of thinking that united theory and practice. This way of thinking was later adapted to other fields of study, including architecture, design, social science, economics, theology, literature, and beyond. As a result of such adaptation, various “Chicago schools” emerged in these different fields of study. Most of these Chicago schools were seen as attempts to unite theory and practice. The HathiTrust holds a broad range of books and periodicals that mention one or another “Chicago school.” Here, I create maps for a selection of Chicago schools. The maps show in which contexts the Chicago schools have been mentioned. All information is considered that is published on the same page as the mention of the “Chicago school”. The visual interface shown on the next slides can be found online. The graphical interface and the method of geographical information retrieval that I employ are my and my collaborators’ work, initially started as part of my ACS project with the HathiTrust Research Center (2016).

Feminist Ethnographies on Crime and Deviance: Contemporary Trends and Contributions to Criminology

This chapter reviews the origins of, and contemporary trends in, feminist ethnographies of crime and deviance to highlight how these works have shaped the broader field of criminology. First, this chapter underlines how the Chicago School, post-World War II, facilitated the growth of ethnographies on crime and deviance. Second, it traces the influence of second-wave feminisms and Black feminisms on criminology that challenged White masculinist modes of knowledge production. Next, contemporary works that examine carceral institutions, their collateral consequences, and stigmatized groups are considered for their potential to advance understandings of crime, deviance, and victimization. The chapter concludes by offering directions for future research and a discussion on the policy implications and radical potential of feminist ethnographies of crime and deviance.

The Causes and Consequences of the Neo-Brandeisian Antitrust Movement in the United States

The recent appointments of Timothy Wu as Special Assistant to the U.S. President for Technology and Competition Policy and Lina Khan, a member of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, two prominent advocates for a fundamental shift in U.S. antitrust policy, and the introduction of federal and state legislation to change how antitrust is applied signal a realistic possibility of a fundamental change of direction in the course of U.S. antitrust. The shift advocated by these self-described “Brandeisians” goes beyond the reform proposals advocated by the Post-Chicago School movement. Whereas the Post-Chicago School movement, which was based primarily on industrial organization theory, advocated for change while recognizing the primacy of economic theory in the application of antitrust law, the Neo-Brandeisians argue that economic considerations should only be part of the substantive antitrust analysis and not necessarily the determinative factor. For many Europeans, and in particular Germans familiar with legal history, the ideas advanced by the Neo-Brandeisians will be familiar. Louis Brandeis, whose writings and opinions serve as the intellectual compass of the Neo-Brandeisians, was himself influenced by the Freirechtsbewegung and their skepticism of a wertfreie jurisprudence. Borrowing from post-modernist philosophy, the Neo-Brandeisians recognize that the dominant legal doctrines reflect the prevailing power structures in society. In their view, the fact that U.S. antitrust law relies heavily on economic theory does not allow it to claim value neutrality. The more radical members of this movement consequently argue that other values beyond economics should be considered in the application of U.S. antitrust law by the courts and antitrust agencies. In this article we attempt to introduce this movement to a European audience and assess its possible impact on the direction of U.S. antitrust.

The History of (Crime) Ethnography

This chapter provides a broad overview of the history and use of ethnography as a tool for studying crime and deviance. It traces the development of ethnographic methods, including participant observation, from ancient times to the present, exploring how early-twentieth-century anthropologists and sociologists, First and Second Chicago School ethnographers, and scholars from a variety of intellectual traditions have shaped, problematized, and codified ethnography—leaving us with some of the most canonical studies of crime and deviance in the process. This chapter serves as an historical steppingstone for the remainder of the handbook, highlighting some of the most influential people, places, studies, and movements that have shaped how contemporary crime ethnographers understand and practice their craft.

Sherman Act 1890: Modernization and Impact on Markets

The major purpose of the Sherman Act was to prevent mergers from forming monopolies. It ensures consumers are protected from price discrimination, and there is free competition. Several economists, classical economists, neoclassical economists, Chicago school and Harvard school, pointed out several antitrust laws. Classical economists led by Smith argued that monopolists set prices at higher prices and raise their charges higher through understocking the markets hence corporations and mergers should be prevented. Neoclassical economists developed a model which assumes that there are no barriers to entry whereby there is free entry to the market. Harvard school also advocated for free competition. Either, the Chicago school was against the idea of free competition and proposed some acts from the antitrust laws to be removed. However, with advancements in technology, the Sherman Act has become outdated and some languages used are held, making it a challenge to interpret in courts. There is a need for the antitrust laws to be reformed to fit the changing technology. Bills should be proposed to make improvements to the acts. For example, Klobuchar Amy, in April 2021, proposed a bill seeking to reform antitrust laws to better perfect competition in the American economy.