Efficiency: The Myth of the Perfect Mindset
In a poignant article, Georgina Johnson, an editor at The Slow Grind, shares her personal struggle with feeling lost and unserved by the medical system due to her chronic illness. Johnson's life has felt like a fizzing electrical wire ready to shock her at every turn, a testament to the challenges faced by those living with chronic conditions in a capitalist society.
Capitalism, more than just an economic system, is an existential conflict that permeates deep into our bones, minds, and ecosystems. It prioritizes profits and productivity over individual well-being, shaping the fundamental relationship between capitalism, productivity, and the treatment of chronic illness or disability in society.
Under capitalism, health—including management of chronic illness and disability—is commodified and subordinated to the demands of capital accumulation. High-pressure, precarious work environments contribute to exhaustion, chronic illness, and disability, disproportionately affecting working-class populations. Productivity becomes the dominant social value, and those with chronic illnesses or disabilities are often marginalized because they may not fulfill these productivity expectations.
The healthcare system under capitalism is profit-driven rather than care-driven. Private insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, and medical providers operate as corporate conglomerates focused on maximizing financial returns, often at the expense of effective, equitable care for chronic conditions and disabilities. Treatment and therapeutic industries are largely commodified, with many interventions driven by profit and sometimes perpetuating ableism and neglecting social determinants of disability.
Ariel Salleh, in her book Ecofeminism As Politics, emphasizes the importance of ecofeminist actions in overturning communal behaviors that prioritize domination and productivity of both nature and the body. Salleh suggests that by reminding ourselves that we are part of an ecosystem, we can begin to heal the wounds caused by profit-seeking, productivity, and extractivism.
The link between the personal and the political is inextricably strong, according to Salleh's analysis. Prioritizing empathy in a world built on apathy can help reorganize "the enemy outside and within" and reclaim our planet and our bodies with care and tenderness, as suggested by Audre Lorde. Lorde writes that the process of writing and reckoning with illness is a "process of integrating...crisis into life" and that fears are most powerful when they are not given voice.
Nafissa Thompson-Spires, who also has chronic endometriosis, wrote about the rationale for silence due to chronic illness. Johnson felt lost due to the silence and inaction from doctors. Imposed silence about any areas of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness, according to Lorde. Capitalism's function undermines our relationship to nature, promoting exploitation and extraction from it.
Workers living with chronic illness must navigate these challenges in a system that often demands continuous labor participation. Some individuals with chronic illness reevaluate traditional capitalist narratives about work and life, recognizing that their health may necessitate different life choices outside of fulfilling capitalist productivity norms.
Overall, capitalism’s imperative for continuous capital accumulation prioritizes profits and productivity, often at the direct expense of people with chronic illness or disabilities. This leads to systemic inequities in care access, quality, and social inclusion, making the treatment and experience of chronic illness and disability a reflection of broader capitalist social relations and power structures.
- Georgina Johnson, an editor at The Slow Grind, highlights the struggles faced by those with chronic illnesses within a capitalist society, comparing life to a fizzing electrical wire on the verge of shock.
- Ariel Salleh points out the necessity of ecofeminist actions to challenge communal behaviors that prioritize domination and productivity, with the goal of healing the wounds caused by capitalism.
- Chronic illness is stereotypically commodified and subordinated to capital accumulation under capitalism, putting pressure on the healthcare system to prioritize profits over care.
- Effective, equitable care for chronic conditions and disabilities is often compromised due to the pursuit of financial returns by private insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, and medical providers.5.Nafissa Thompson-Spires writes about the rationalization for silence due to chronic illness, and Johnson experienced this silence and inaction from doctors.
- The link between the personal and the political is emphasized, implying that prioritizing empathy can help reorganize capitalist power structures and reclaim our planet and our bodies with care and tenderness.
- In a capitalist society, high-pressure, precarious work environments contribute to the development of chronic illnesses and disabilities, disproportionately affecting working-class populations.
- Workers with chronic illnesses may navigate a system that requires continuous labor participation, leading some to reevaluate traditional capitalist narratives about work and life to accommodate their health needs.
