EXPOSING NEOLIBERAL CONTRADICTIONS: SOCIAL ABJECTION OF DISABLED BODIES IN FRANCESCA MARTINEZ’S ALL OF US

Authors : Melike İrem Alhas

Pages : 19-32

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Publication Date : 2025-10-16

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Francesca Martinez’s All of Us (2022) offers a critical examination of the social abjection of disabled bodies within the context of neoliberal Britain. This article conducts a close reading of the play to analyse how austerity policies, labour market pressures, and ableist assumptions intersect to reinforce the marginalisation of disabled individuals. Drawing on Judith Butler’s concept of social abjection, this article argues that the play exposes the paradoxical nature of neoliberal rhetoric: While claiming to promote independence and self-reliance, the neoliberal state’s restrictive disability assessment processes and benefit reductions ultimately reinforce dependence and economic precarity. Through its portrayal of disabled characters affected by systemic injustice, the play exposes how neoliberalism renders certain bodies socially and politically unintelligible. Martinez challenges these exclusions by rejecting the notion that disability is a condition to be fixed, instead portraying it as a site where systemic injustice is enacted and exclusion is normalised, contributing to broader debates on disability justice and exposing the structural dynamics of social abjection under neoliberal governance.
Keywords : Britanya Tiyatrosu, Engellilik, Francesca Martinez, All of Us, Neoliberalizm, Abjeksiyon

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