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Capitalism and Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell by Keith Rosenthal, Marta Russell
historicalmaterialgirl's review
wishing self-diagnosed neurodivergent people would read this đź’”
The books does repeat the same arguments often. But I see better how capitalism is the root of oppression for disabled people and the need for a disabled movement that has more clear anti-capitalist goals (instead of proving disabled people are worthy of being exploited too). Not finishing only because my tbr is too long and I see myself more as dipping in and out of this book when I need to. Highly recommend though!
The books does repeat the same arguments often. But I see better how capitalism is the root of oppression for disabled people and the need for a disabled movement that has more clear anti-capitalist goals (instead of proving disabled people are worthy of being exploited too). Not finishing only because my tbr is too long and I see myself more as dipping in and out of this book when I need to. Highly recommend though!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
sydthebeesknee's review against another edition
5.0
this was excellent, eye-opening, and very heavy. Russell synthesized social theory, economics, history, and disability policy in a way that I feel like I learned and now understand a lot.
arp9081's review
5.0
Exceptional analysis of how disability rights efforts are undermined by capitalist efforts. There is so much to unpack, both in America's legislature and corporate culture, that perpetuate an ableist society. Foundational literature for those exploring the connection between disability and capitalism as well as disability justice.
mayo899's review
5.0
cannot be pro disability rights w/o being anti-capitalist. the common conception of disability is defined thru a capitalist lens—to be disabled ultimately means to be unable to work. if you cannot work, be a “productive” member of society, then your value is worth less. ADA was basically a sham. these essays laid bare the inequities and oppressive nature of our current laws, economic system and national political motivations over the last 50 years or so. as long as we continue to value profit over human life, people with disabilities may always end up at the bottom of the barrel. essential read imo!!!!!
priscillia's review
5.0
One of the most brilliant essays I've ever read in my life. Marta Russell provides a Marxist analysis of disability under capitalism, asserting their structural interconnectedness. Additionally, she covers a wide range of disability-related topics such as civil rights, imperialism, housing, medical aid in dying, incarceration, the environment, eugenics, and more, illustrating how all these issues are inseparable from the capitalist economic model. I've learned a great deal.
teyn's review
5.0
This was so good! An in-depth look at some things I already knew and an eye-opener for a few more concepts! It took quite a while to read because it can be heavy and heartbreaking at times, but it was good to have my instincts about capitalism as it relates to disability reaffirmed from an academic and statistical standpoint.
My favourite quotes were:
"disability is a socially created category derived from labor relations, a product of the exploitative economic structure of capitalist society"
"By focusing on curing so-called abnormalities and segregating those who could not be cured into the administrative category of “disabled,” medicine cooperated in shoving less exploitable workers out of the mainstream workforce."
"Discrimination can be ameliorated, but not eliminated, by changing attitudes. Only a system of material production that takes into account the human consequences of its development can eliminate discrimination against disabled persons."
"Capitalism set up production dynamics that devalued less exploitable or non -exploitable bodies, and Social Darwinism theorized their disposability. If it was natural that disabled persons were not to survive, then the capitalist class was off the hook to design a more equitable economic system"
"If workers were provided with a federal social safety net that adequately protected them through unemployment, sickness, disability, and old age, then business would have less control over the workforce because labor would gain a stronger position from which to negotiate their conditions of employment, such as fair wages and safe working conditions."
"What is the purpose of an economy— to support market-driven profits or to sustain social bonds and encourage human participation? Is it acceptable to reduce the productive activities of persons to commodity wage labor? Is the capacity to produce for profit an acceptable measure of human worth? Is it defensible to hold in contempt bodies that do not produce the way the capitalist class demands, leaving disabled persons to struggle on low wages or meager benefit checks or to be institutionalized?"
"inequality is a product of differential power, rather than differential skill"
"Anti-discrimination laws cannot bridge the systemic employment gap, and individual rights cannot reach the root of the parity predicament created by the economic structure."
"economic suffering, low wages and poverty are not the result of individual moral failings or a pathological “dependency” nor a decline in the Protestant work ethic, but rather, are built in to the structure of modern capitalism"
"There is no “equal opportunity” when the most important economic decisions about investment, choice of technology, work processes, and the organization of work itself are in the hands of a tiny elite of corporate owners"
"Unless disabled people see ourselves as active creators of equality (which means undoing capitalism, which can never be made equitable) we will be doomed to be tools of the owning class, and our people, like other oppressed groups, will remain impoverished."
"we must call for a drastic social and economic restructuring of the organization of work. We must create a social order based on equality, an order that does not punish those who cannot work, that does not make “work” the defining measure of our worth, and that offers counter values to the prevailing productionism which only oppresses us all."
"Some of the wealthiest people in this country are “dependent” upon corporate subsidies. Middle-class homeowners are “dependent” upon mortgage interest rates being tax -deductible. Why not view disability supports as part of the same largess, rather than framing them negatively as leading to dependency, paternalism, or “welfare”?"
"If democracy is the practice of promoting social equality where more people participate in governance, then capitalism with its economic tendency to concentrate wealth works against that equality, because wealth and ownership reside in fewer and fewer hands...There can be no democracy without economic democracy."
My favourite quotes were:
"disability is a socially created category derived from labor relations, a product of the exploitative economic structure of capitalist society"
"By focusing on curing so-called abnormalities and segregating those who could not be cured into the administrative category of “disabled,” medicine cooperated in shoving less exploitable workers out of the mainstream workforce."
"Discrimination can be ameliorated, but not eliminated, by changing attitudes. Only a system of material production that takes into account the human consequences of its development can eliminate discrimination against disabled persons."
"Capitalism set up production dynamics that devalued less exploitable or non -exploitable bodies, and Social Darwinism theorized their disposability. If it was natural that disabled persons were not to survive, then the capitalist class was off the hook to design a more equitable economic system"
"If workers were provided with a federal social safety net that adequately protected them through unemployment, sickness, disability, and old age, then business would have less control over the workforce because labor would gain a stronger position from which to negotiate their conditions of employment, such as fair wages and safe working conditions."
"What is the purpose of an economy— to support market-driven profits or to sustain social bonds and encourage human participation? Is it acceptable to reduce the productive activities of persons to commodity wage labor? Is the capacity to produce for profit an acceptable measure of human worth? Is it defensible to hold in contempt bodies that do not produce the way the capitalist class demands, leaving disabled persons to struggle on low wages or meager benefit checks or to be institutionalized?"
"inequality is a product of differential power, rather than differential skill"
"Anti-discrimination laws cannot bridge the systemic employment gap, and individual rights cannot reach the root of the parity predicament created by the economic structure."
"economic suffering, low wages and poverty are not the result of individual moral failings or a pathological “dependency” nor a decline in the Protestant work ethic, but rather, are built in to the structure of modern capitalism"
"There is no “equal opportunity” when the most important economic decisions about investment, choice of technology, work processes, and the organization of work itself are in the hands of a tiny elite of corporate owners"
"Unless disabled people see ourselves as active creators of equality (which means undoing capitalism, which can never be made equitable) we will be doomed to be tools of the owning class, and our people, like other oppressed groups, will remain impoverished."
"we must call for a drastic social and economic restructuring of the organization of work. We must create a social order based on equality, an order that does not punish those who cannot work, that does not make “work” the defining measure of our worth, and that offers counter values to the prevailing productionism which only oppresses us all."
"Some of the wealthiest people in this country are “dependent” upon corporate subsidies. Middle-class homeowners are “dependent” upon mortgage interest rates being tax -deductible. Why not view disability supports as part of the same largess, rather than framing them negatively as leading to dependency, paternalism, or “welfare”?"
"If democracy is the practice of promoting social equality where more people participate in governance, then capitalism with its economic tendency to concentrate wealth works against that equality, because wealth and ownership reside in fewer and fewer hands...There can be no democracy without economic democracy."
gigireadswithkiki's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This book was fairly dense and entrenched in a lot of sociological jargon, but the various essays were enjoyable and nuanced, if lacking in intersectionality. Russell's thorough examination of disability under the lens of capitalism was intriguing and provoking, urging readers to analyze disability through a deeper lens than societal acceptance. The analysis of accessibility was profound, calling for a drastic upheaval of capitalism's definition of individual worth which prioritizes people based on their contributions to labor. While the book was written two decades prior and many of the critiques call out Bush and his presidency, many of the ideas and arguments are still applicable in 2023, and overall I really enjoyed this slow read.
steph_foster's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5