The Rise of Anti-Capitalist Neurodiversity: Robert Chapman's 'Empire of Normality'
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Jan 28, 2024
Explore the influence of eugenicist thinking on society and the concept of the 'empire of normality'. Discover the historical production of normality and the rejection of eugenics. Challenge the notion that self-diagnoses are capitalist constructs and discuss the importance of recognizing shared experiences. Examine the concept of surplus in capitalism and its impact on neurodivergent individuals. Explore the transition in understanding mental illness from disease to dysfunction in modern psychiatry.
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insights INSIGHT
Eugenics Origins
Eugenics originated in Britain, not Nazi Germany, and aimed to improve the human race through selective breeding.
It was intertwined with white supremacy and classism, seeking to increase upper-class reproduction.
question_answer ANECDOTE
The Legacy of Cyril Burt
Britain's school system, with grammar schools for the 'gifted,' is based on eugenicist Cyril Burt's flawed research.
Burt's twin studies, which influenced this system, were later found to be fabricated.
insights INSIGHT
Empire of Normality
The "empire of normality" is the superstructure of eugenics, controlling how we perceive bodies and minds.
It responds to the neurodiversity movement and thinkers like Singer and Walker.
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Buy the book: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745348667/empire-of-normality/
Neurodiversity is on the rise. Awareness and diagnoses have exploded in recent years, but we are still missing a wider understanding of how we got here and why. Beyond simplistic narratives of normativity and difference, this groundbreaking book exposes the very myth of the 'normal' brain as a product of intensified capitalism.
Exploring the rich histories of the neurodiversity and disability movements, Robert Chapman shows how the rise of capitalism created an 'empire of normality' that transformed our understanding of the body into that of a productivity machine.
Neurodivergent liberation is possible - but only by challenging the deepest logics of capitalism. Empire of Normality is an essential guide to understanding the systems that shape our bodies, minds and deepest selves - and how we can undo them.
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