Intersectionality

Intersectionality analyses how multiple systems of oppression — gender, race, class, sexuality — interlock and shape experience and inequality.

Scope

It covers the intersection of social divisions, the critique of single-axis analysis, and intersectional methodology and politics.

Core questions

• How do systems of oppression interact?
• Why is single-axis analysis inadequate?
• How do race, gender, and class jointly shape experience?
• How can intersectionality guide research and politics?

Key concepts

• Intersectionality
• Multiple jeopardy
• Standpoint theory
• Matrix of domination
• Single-axis critique
• Identity and inequality

Key theories

Multiple jeopardy

King analysed the compounded oppressions facing Black women, prefiguring intersectional analysis.

Intersectionality

Crenshaw coined 'intersectionality' to show how anti-discrimination frameworks fail those at the intersection of race and sex.

Black feminist thought

Collins systematized an intersectional standpoint epistemology.

History

Intersectionality emerged from Black feminist thought (King, Crenshaw, Collins) to become a central framework across the social sciences for analysing interlocking oppressions.

Debates

Intersectionality as theory, method, or politics

How to operationalize intersectionality in research and practice.

Key figures

• Deborah King
• Kimberlé Crenshaw
• Patricia Hill Collins

Seminal works

• king-1988
• crenshaw-1989
• collins-1990

Frequently asked questions

What is intersectionality?

Crenshaw's framework showing that systems of oppression (race, gender, class, etc.) interlock, so people's experiences cannot be reduced to a single category.