Kieron Smith - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Kieron Smith
Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies: Volume 15, Issue 3, 2021
The article questions both the dominant metanarrative around Down syndrome and its numerous trope... more The article questions both the dominant metanarrative around Down syndrome and its numerous tropes, but also the dominant counter-narrative for effectively re-enforcing this. In order to expose the dominance of the image over the reality of Down syndrome, the article utilizes Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacra. It demonstrates how attempts to challenge the deficit model relating to Down syndrome continue to incorporate both the specific language and underlying metaphors of Down syndrome as other. Despite greater positive visibility in advertisements, television, and the press, there continues to be an increase in terminations and no progress on inclusion in education or the workplace. The article opposes both received narratives and metaphors around Down syndrome and poses a new challenge to the disparate, but ultimately impotent dominant counter-arguments and argues for a renewed focus on the real, the material experiences of people with Down syndrome. This is the only way that...
Philosophy of Management, 2005
A survey of Marxist approaches to management theory reveals some shallowness in approach and litt... more A survey of Marxist approaches to management theory reveals some shallowness in approach and little in the way of critiques of modern theory, either macro or micro. By moving through stages of looking at the class position of managers, Marxist interpretations to date, including that of Lenin as an advocate of Taylorism and the crystallising of management theory in opposition to Cold War communism, the paper sets the scene for an argument that Marxists should address management theory today and that management theory would be better for it. Big capitalism has created systems of work organization, which, under the prevailing conditions of exploitation of the masses, represent the harshest form of enslavement by which the minority, the propertied classes, wring out of the working people surplus amounts of labour, strength, blood and nerves. At the same time they are the last word in the scientific organization of production…For instance, the famous Taylor system, which is so widespread in America, is famous precisely because it is the last word in reckless capitalist exploitation. One can understand why this system met with such an intense hatred and protest on the part of the workers. At the same time, we must not for a moment forget that the Taylor system represents the tremendous progress of science, which systematically analyses the process of production and points the way towards an immense increase in the efficiency of human labour. 1
Books by Kieron Smith
The Politics of Down Syndrome is a call for people to think again about what it means to be inclu... more The Politics of Down Syndrome is a call for people to think again about what it means to be inclusive, why we're hung up on the idea of intelligence and how an inclusive society is a better society.
Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies: Volume 15, Issue 3, 2021
The article questions both the dominant metanarrative around Down syndrome and its numerous trope... more The article questions both the dominant metanarrative around Down syndrome and its numerous tropes, but also the dominant counter-narrative for effectively re-enforcing this. In order to expose the dominance of the image over the reality of Down syndrome, the article utilizes Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacra. It demonstrates how attempts to challenge the deficit model relating to Down syndrome continue to incorporate both the specific language and underlying metaphors of Down syndrome as other. Despite greater positive visibility in advertisements, television, and the press, there continues to be an increase in terminations and no progress on inclusion in education or the workplace. The article opposes both received narratives and metaphors around Down syndrome and poses a new challenge to the disparate, but ultimately impotent dominant counter-arguments and argues for a renewed focus on the real, the material experiences of people with Down syndrome. This is the only way that...
Philosophy of Management, 2005
A survey of Marxist approaches to management theory reveals some shallowness in approach and litt... more A survey of Marxist approaches to management theory reveals some shallowness in approach and little in the way of critiques of modern theory, either macro or micro. By moving through stages of looking at the class position of managers, Marxist interpretations to date, including that of Lenin as an advocate of Taylorism and the crystallising of management theory in opposition to Cold War communism, the paper sets the scene for an argument that Marxists should address management theory today and that management theory would be better for it. Big capitalism has created systems of work organization, which, under the prevailing conditions of exploitation of the masses, represent the harshest form of enslavement by which the minority, the propertied classes, wring out of the working people surplus amounts of labour, strength, blood and nerves. At the same time they are the last word in the scientific organization of production…For instance, the famous Taylor system, which is so widespread in America, is famous precisely because it is the last word in reckless capitalist exploitation. One can understand why this system met with such an intense hatred and protest on the part of the workers. At the same time, we must not for a moment forget that the Taylor system represents the tremendous progress of science, which systematically analyses the process of production and points the way towards an immense increase in the efficiency of human labour. 1
The Politics of Down Syndrome is a call for people to think again about what it means to be inclu... more The Politics of Down Syndrome is a call for people to think again about what it means to be inclusive, why we're hung up on the idea of intelligence and how an inclusive society is a better society.