"Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how a person's various social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege."
Examining the ways in which race, ethnicity, and identity operate within socio-political systems and power dynamics, and their effects on individuals and communities.
Racism: The belief that certain races are inherently superior or inferior to others and the systemic oppression and discrimination of individuals based on their race.
Ethnicity: A shared cultural identity based on common ancestry, language, religion, or other cultural traits.
Identity politics: The use of personal or group identity as a basis for political beliefs and actions.
Colonialism: The subjugation and exploitation of a population, territory, or country by an external power for economic and political gain.
Intersectionality: The idea that multiple forms of oppression, such as race, gender, and class, interact and create unique experiences of privilege and discrimination.
Social stratification: The hierarchical arrangement of individuals or groups based on social status, wealth, and power.
Privilege: The advantages and benefits that one group or individual possesses over others due to their social position.
White supremacy: The belief that white people are inherently superior to people of other races.
Microaggressions: Subtle forms of discrimination or prejudice that reinforce power dynamics and privilege.
Tokenism: The inclusion of a small number of members from historically marginalized groups to give the appearance of diversity or inclusivity without providing genuine opportunities for equity.
Marginalization: The social, economic, and political exclusion of individuals or groups from the dominant culture.
Hegemony: The dominance of a particular group or culture over others in a given society.
Structural racism: The systemic ways that racial disparities are built into societal structures and institutions.
Cultural appropriation: The unacknowledged or inappropriate use of another culture's traditions or symbols by a dominant culture.
Globalization: The worldwide interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and societies, and the resulting power dynamics that shape these interactions.
White Supremacy: A social and political structure where the white race is deemed superior to all other races. It perpetuates the notion that white people are entitled to more political and social power than other racial groups.
Apartheid: A political structure that advocates the complete separation of racial or ethnic groups through discriminatory laws, often enforced by violent means. Apartheid may also involve the systematic denial of certain rights and privileges to certain racial groups.
Colonialism: A political structure that involves the acquisition, exploitation, and control of a territory and its resources by another nation or group. Colonialism often prioritized the needs and interests of the colonizing group over the needs and interests of the colonized group.
Institutionalized Racism: A social and political structure where the policies, culture, and practices of institutions, such as government agencies or corporate entities, systematically disadvantage people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds.
Intersectionality: A framework that highlights the interconnectedness of different social categories, such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion. It recognizes that these categories intersect to create unique experiences of oppression and privilege for different individuals and groups.
Tribalism: A social and political structure where loyalty to one's ethnic or cultural group is more important than loyalty to a broader society or nation. Tribalism can lead to conflicts between different ethnic or cultural groups, often resulting in violence or political instability.
Postcolonialism: A political and social movement that seeks to overturn the legacies of colonialism and promote the equality and empowerment of formerly colonized people and cultures.
Multiculturalism: A social and political structure that recognizes and celebrates the diversity of different cultures and ethnicities within a society. Multiculturalism promotes the idea that all cultures should be treated with equal respect and acknowledges that no single culture or ethnicity is superior to another.
Identity Politics: A political philosophy that emphasizes the importance of individual identity, particularly as it relates to social inequality and power dynamics. Identity politics recognizes that an individual's race, gender, sexuality, and other characteristics have a significant impact on their lived experiences and advocates for policies that address these inequalities.
"Examples of these factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance."
"These intersecting and overlapping social identities may be both empowering and oppressing."
"Intersectional feminism aims to separate itself from white feminism by acknowledging women's differing experiences and identities."
"The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989."
"Intersectionality opposes analytical systems that treat each axis of oppression in isolation."
"In this framework, for instance, discrimination against black women cannot be explained as a simple combination of misogyny and racism, but as something more complicated."
"Intersectionality engages in similar themes as triple oppression, which is the oppression associated with being a poor or immigrant woman of color."
"Criticism includes the framework's tendency to reduce individuals to specific demographic factors, and its use as an ideological tool against other feminist theories."
"Critics have characterized the framework as ambiguous and lacking defined goals."
"As it is based in standpoint theory, critics say the focus on subjective experiences can lead to contradictions and the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"However, little good-quality quantitative research has been done to support or undermine the theory of intersectionality."
"An analysis of academic articles published through December 2019 found that there are no widely adopted quantitative methods to investigate research questions informed by intersectionality."
"The analysis ... provided recommendations on analytic best practices for future research."
"An analysis of academic articles published through May 2020 found that intersectionality is frequently misunderstood when bridging theory into quantitative methodology."
"In 2022, a quantitative approach to intersectionality was proposed based on information theory, specifically synergistic information."
"In this framing, intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome (e.g. income, etc.) that can only be learned when multiple identities (e.g. race and sex) are known together."
"Intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome [...] that can [...] not [be] extractable from analysis of the individual identities considered separately."
"Critics [argue] the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"Intersectionality broadens the scope of the first and second waves of feminism, [...] to include the different experiences of women of color, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups."