Out of the frame: disability and the body in the writings of Karl Marx

ABSTRACT

How disability as a phenomenon is to be understood has been widely discussed within the field of disability research. Influenced by a Marxist perspective, the social model has reinforced the view that disability results from the organization of society rather than from individual premises. This article elaborates on these issues by exploring the writings of Karl Marx and his views concerning disability. The analysis pinpoints bodily normality in Marx’s reasoning and how the economic system shapes the premises for participation and roles, but also how people with disabilities were left out of the progressive call for social change.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• Karl Marx
• social model
• normality
• deviance

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my anonymous referees, and Professor Mary McCall, at Samuel Merritt University, for comments and suggestions in relation to the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Staffan Bengtsson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioural Science and Social Work at Jönköping University, School of Health and Welfare. His research interests are focused on cultural anaysis and social policy in relation to disability.

Notes on contributor

Staffan Bengtsson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioural Science and Social Work at Jönköping University, School of Health and Welfare. His research interests are focused on cultural anaysis and social policy in relation to disability.

Notes

1. Materialism is an elusive, and not necessarily a Marxist, concept that, unlike idealistic philosophy, focuses on material conditions (e.g. access to the labour market). Historic materialism is a specific term within Marxist theory, which claims that ‘societies progress through distinctive modes of production’ (Worsley 2002; Brown, Fleetwood, and Roberts 2002, 11). Even though the terminology shifts within disability theory, which causes some conceptual puzzlement, leading social modellists draw ‘heavily on the materialist theories of Marx and Engels’ (Barnes 1996, 44; Armer 2004).

2. Even though it has been disputed, theorists also stress ontological and epistemological links between critical realism and Marxism (for a discussion, see Brown, Fleetwood, and Roberts 2002; Jessop 2002).

3. Here I am using man in the sense that Marx used it, but referring to humankind.