Woodruff Professor of Law, Martha Albertson Fineman, believes it is her scholarly responsibility "to challenge deeply held, relatively unexamined assumptions that underlie the way American society is organized and operates." In her books, she explores issues such as the nature and function of the family as a societal institution, the economic and political consequences of welfare and divorce reforms, and the meanings of "dependency" in American society and politics.

In The Neutered Mother, The Sexual Family and Other Twentieth Century Tragedies (1995) Fineman examines the social policy underlying American family and welfare law, which designates marriage and the marital family as the way to organize dependency. For single mothers and their children, whether divorced or never married, the solution for the economic and social problems they encounter is deemed to be marriage. Fineman argues that marriage is the way that America "privatizes" dependency and absolves the state from primary responsibility for the wellbeing of its poor and vulnerable citizens. She argues for replacing our policy fixation with and substantial support for the "sexual" or marital family with attention to and subsidy for a family organized around the caretaker-dependant relationship. Fineman asserts that the law should focus on the function we want the family to perform in society (caretaking of its dependent members), not on mandating a preferred form of family.

More recently, in The Autonomy Myth: A Theory of Dependency (2004) Fineman expands her critique beyond the organization of the family in law and policy to examine the distribution of responsibility for dependency among the family, the workplace, and the state. She further develops the concepts of "inevitable" and "derivative" dependency in arguing that responsibility for these dependencies should be shared across societal institutions. As a universal experience, dependency is inevitable in that it is developmental in nature, a part of the human condition. All of us are dependent as children and many become so as we age, become ill or are disabled. Another form of dependency is not inevitable, but assigned through societal organization and ideology. Derivative dependency arises because those in society who care for others are dependent on resources to undertake that care. Fineman concludes that institutions other than the family benefit from the care work done within the family and should assume some responsibility in the form of economic contributions to and accommodation of those who do the society reserving work of caretaking. Fineman calls for public policy that assumes a collective responsibility.

In sum, Fineman argues "the relationship between the family and these other institutions is symbiotic." One cannot have reform in the family without corresponding reforms in the workplace and in state responsibility. She maintains that changes that occur in the family and the workplace must be taken into account when we fashion public policy. Society must be structured to allow people to work in the family and in the marketplace without sacrificing one to the other.

Fineman's work in process will result in a book tentatively titled Wealth and Entitlement. In it she explores the production of social values around the accumulation of wealth in American society. What is it about our notions of entitlement that support the belief that the accumulation of extraordinary wealth is indicative of individual merit, not societal arrangements that value some forms of contribution over others? How can American society sanction the fact that some people accumulate more wealth than they could possibly spend in dozens of lifetimes, even at lavish standards, while others are not able to secure even for their basic needs? Fineman argues that it should not be acceptable that "the richest country in the history of the world has pockets of unbearable poverty." Whereas The Autonomy Myth critically explored social policy at the institutional level, Wealth and Entitlement will be an examination of the ideology and values underlying the development of social policy and law.

A complement to Fineman's scholarly work is the Feminism and Legal Theory (FLT) Project, which she initiated in 1984. The FLT Project came with Fineman to Emory Law School in 2004. Its core purpose is to foster interdisciplinary examinations of laws and social policies and structures that are of particular interest to women. The FLT Project is committed to using an intersectional approach and has addressed a variety of issues from the perspectives of race, class, and sexuality, as well as gender. There is particular concern for the legal and social position of children and other vulnerable populations. Recently, FLT Project workshops have explored a range of topics, such as "All in the Family? Women, Islam and Human Rights"; "Storytelling and the Law: A Retrospective on Narrative, Ethics and Legal Change"; and "An Uncomfortable Conversation on Sociobiology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Feminist Legal Theory." The FLT Project also sponsors a visiting scholars program, which attracts scholars from around the world and forges working relationships among academics and activists.

Under Fineman's leadership, the FLT Project has produced a number of books, including two scheduled for publication in 2007: What is Right for Children? The Competing Paradigms of Religion and Human Rights and Strange Bedfellows: An Uncomfortable Conversation between Feminist and Queer Legal Theories. In addition, the FLT Project has established a feminist legal theory book collection and FLT Project Archive, both of which are housed in the Emory Law School library.

In interacting with her students, Fineman also carries forward the themes and methods developed in her research and the FLT Project, encouraging them to question the basic assumptions they have about ways in which our society operates. She encourages them to be critical thinkers who are not afraid to reexamine fundamental concepts and, along with her, question the status quo.