Neoliberalism’s Influence on Disability Rights and Policy in the United States

• In Event: 50221 - Section on Disability in Society Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Disability, Policy, and Social Institutions

Abstract

Neoliberalism is a political and economic framework that can be broadly understood as the pervasive application of market-based logic and competition to various spheres of public life, including economic systems, public policy agendas, and social structures. The United States’ mid-twentieth century transition from a welfare state to a neoliberal perspective has been marked by the prioritization of economic productivity, the privatization of once-public services, deinstitutionalization, and the normalization of personal accountability over collective responsibility. Sociologists and other social science researchers and theorists have established a link between the proliferation of neoliberal ideologies and the ever-increasing class and cultural oppression present in United States’ society. Yet today, sociologists pay little attention to the effects of neoliberalism on disability policy and disability rights more broadly.

Within the realm of disability policy, neoliberalism has reshaped the ways in which governments, institutions, and societies approach providing services, support, and opportunities for disabled people, paradoxically producing outcomes that both bolster and undermine the continued social justice efforts of the disability community. Through analyzing the welfare and rights of people with disabilities before and during the neoliberal era, as well as projecting into the future neoliberal era under end-stage capitalism, this literature review seeks to answer the following research question: How has neoliberalism shaped and transformed disability rights and policy?

Author

• Reid Boujaoude, Syracuse University