The social model of disability as an oppositional device

Abstract

This article engages with debates about the UK Disabled People s Movement s Big )dea the social model of disability -positioning this as an oppositional device This concept is adapted from the work of the art activist and theorist Brian Holmes, elaborated using insights from Foucault and others The model s primary operation is introducing contingency into the present facilitating disabled people s resistance-practices. We recognise, however, that the device can operate in a disciplinary manner when adopted by a machinery of government. Whilst our primary goal is to understand the character and operation of the social model, by providing a more general definition of an oppositional device as the concrete operation of technologies of power, we also propose a concept potentially useful for the analysis of the resistance-practices of activists involved in a wide variety of struggles. This concept may thus have implications for wider social and political analysis. Keywordssocial model of disability; oppositional device; technology; resistance; social movements; biopower.The social model of disability as oppositional device. Points of Interest This article is a fresh intervention into debates about the Big )dea of the UK Disabled People s Movement the social model of disability. It considers the social model of disability as an oppositional device  The concept of an oppositional device is adapted from the work of the art activist and theorist Brian (olmes elaborated using Michel Foucault s concepts of technology, resistance and bio-power. Whilst others have argued that the social model should be understood as a tool we argue that the concept of an oppositional device has greater relevance for sociological analysis when seeking to understand the operations of the model.

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