Radical Philosophy Hour

Nic Cottone’s work draws on neurodiversity studies, social reproduction theory (SRT), and childhood studies to critically interrogate the veneration of care work in radical left discourse. SRT is useful for this task by framing the social organization of social reproductive labor—including caregiving, child-rearing, and the reproduction of labour power—as exploitative. While drawing on this framing, Cottone also expands SRT by showing how its account of childhood—often described in homogenizing terms as a site relatively distanced from capital and marked by limited alienation—obscures how care is mediated by ‘normality’ (Chapman 2023) in ways that disproportionately affect neurodivergent children. These practices differentiate children according to their approximation to normality, pushing some farther along the continuum toward alienation rather than facilitating conditions for the free flow of play. In contrast, Cottone shows how neurodivergent children can experience heightened alienation within the sphere of social reproduction, where care is structured through demands to be(come)…