For Neurodivergent Marxism: Between Materialist Analysis and Escape from the Empire of Normality and Capitalism

Authors

Arianna Introna Dr, The Open UniversityFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1326-8869

Keywords

Empire of Normality, Neurodivergent Marxism, Neurodiversity theory, Pathology paradigm, Neurodivergent Communism

Document Type

Book Review

Abstract

Robert Chapman’s Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism (2023) possesses extraordinary import for the emancipatory thinking and praxis of neurodivergent folk, but also of those of us who identify as disabled, chronically ill, crip, mad or even neurotypical. This is not only because Chapman’s work offers a fundamental contribution to debates initiated by recent Marxist engagements with the relationship between capitalism and health. It is also thanks to the intense theoretical innovation, historical analysis and inclusive politics that the book radiates. By dissecting the harms wrought by the Empire of Normality, Chapman’s Neurodivergent Marxism is an updated type of Marxism that simultaneously models updated ways of theorising against and beyond the capitalist Empire of Normality, and frames updated modes of class struggle. Despite originating close to neurodivergent power and neurodiversity theory, or because of this, it beckons all of us to follow, whether in workplaces, far from these, or in our own movements.

Recommended Citation

Introna, Arianna Dr (2025) "For Neurodivergent Marxism: Between Materialist Analysis and Escape from the Empire of Normality and Capitalism," Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis: Vol. 4: Iss. 3, Article 14.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55533/2765-8414.1142
Available at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/emancipations/vol4/iss3/14