Do the Right Thing: Understanding the Interest-Convergence Thesis

Stephen M. Feldman*

Editor's Note: This Essay is a response to Justin Driver, Rethinking the Interest-Convergence Thesis , 105 NW. U. L. Rev. 149 (2011).

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Introduction

Professor Derrick Bell was one of the most influential constitutional scholars of the last fifty years. He helped create a genre of legal scholarship—critical race theory—and pioneered storytelling as a scholarly method. His insights spurred civil rights scholars as well as thinkers in other fields. One of his most important legacies—he died on October 5, 2011—is the interest-convergence thesis, which asserts that, historically, African Americans gained social justice primarily when their interests converged with the interests of the white majority.[1] Many scholars not only accept the validity of Bell's thesis but also extend its application to other contexts.[2]

In a recently published article, Rethinking the Interest-Convergence Thesis, Professor Justin Driver calls this legacy into question.[3] After acknowledging the prominence of Bell's scholarship in general, and the significance of the interest-convergence thesis in particular, Driver vigorously criticizes the thesis. He argues that it suffers from "four analytical flaws":[4]