Consider the following working definition of intersectionality provided by Kimberle Crenshaw and Sirma Bilge (2020):
“Intersectionality investigates how intersecting power relations influence social relations across diverse societies as well as individual experiences in everyday life. As an analytic tool, intersectionality views categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, ability, ethnicity, and age -among others – as interrelated and mutually shaping one another. Intersectionality is a way of understanding and explaining complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences.”
In a previous section you were provided a sociological understanding of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, and migration status and how they relate to a distinct understanding of our society and social stratification. A more comprehensive way to understand these categories and the structures they inhabit is through the use of an intersectional lens.
Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\): Ven diagram of Intersectionalty. (Diagram created by Jakobi Oware)
Originally introduced by legal scholar, Kimberle Crenshaw, intersectionality was born of an analysis of the intersection of race and gender. Her analysis of legal cases involving discrimination experienced by African American women involved not only racism but also sexism, yet legal statutes and precedents provided no clear analysis of their intersection, but instead treat them as separate social categories. To understand the intersection of these social categories resulting in their ill treatment, both forms of oppression would need to considered jointly. Crenshaw advocates for social scientists to integrate race and gender into their "frames" to better capture the complexity of life experiences, particularly the experiences impacting African American women. Crenshaw used the example of police brutality and the countless African American male victims, with few recognizing the names of African American women brutalized by the police. The #SayHerName campaign was born of an intersectional frame revealing the importance of naming African American female victims of police brutality such as Breonna Taylor, Sandra Byrd, and Rekia Boyd.
Figure \(\PageIndex{15}\): Black Woman in Discussion with her Colleagues. (CC BY-NC-SA; Pexels)
Black feminist sociologist Patricia Hill Collins (1990) further developed intersection theory, which suggests we cannot separate the effects of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, and other attributes. ‘‘The events and conditions of social and political life and the self can seldom be understood as shaped by one factor . . . . Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and of themselves’’ (Collins, 1992, p.2). We are all shaped by the forces of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, and ableism, though we are likely impacted very differently by these forces.
When we examine race and how it can bring us both advantages and disadvantages, it is important to acknowledge that the way we experience race is shaped, for example, by our gender, social class, sexual orientation, age, disability and other statuses which are structured into our social systems. Multiple layers of disadvantage intersect to create the way we experience race, evidenced in concepts such as double jeopardy or triple jeopardy when an individual has two or three potentially oppressive statuses, respectively. For example, if we want to understand prejudice, we must understand that the prejudice focused on a Euro American woman because of her gender is very different from the layered prejudice focused on a poor Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) woman, who is affected by stereotypes related to being poor, being a woman, and her race-ethnic status. In contrast, writer Alice Walker suggested these individuals instead may have double or triple insights into the human condition. Rosenblum and Travis (2011) have argued that what one notices in the world depends in large part on the statuses one occupies . . . thus we are likely to be fairly unaware of the statuses we occupy that privilege us . . . [and] provide advantage and are acutely aware of those . . . that yield negative judgments and unfair treatment.
Collins (1990) writes that not all African American women experience life, and hence life chances, the same. A middle class heterosexual, Christian African American woman has more privileges than a poor, lesbian African American transgender woman. In fact, Collins explains that there are no pure oppressors or pure victims. In the previous example, this more privileged African American woman may be oppressed based on her gender and race-ethnicity, but she may be oppressive based on her religion, social class, and sexuality.
Figure \(\PageIndex{16}\): Median Income by Race-Ethnicity and Gender (2016). AAPI Men Medium Income: $64,622; White Male Medium Income: $60,508; AAPI Women Medium Income: $50,304; White Women Medium Income: $45,371; Black Men Medium Income: $42,209; AI/AN Men and Black Women Medium Income $36,925; Latinos Medium Income $36,465; AI/AN Women Income: $32,121; and Latinas Medium Income: $31,810. (Chart created by Jonas Oware with data from the U.S. Census Bureau / U.S. Census Bureau)
A variety of public issues may be considered using an intersectional lens; thus, the chapters in this book provide a discussion of intersectionality as a recognition of it's utility, complexity and the path towards social change that intersectionality offers. In the following section, intersectionality is presented as a sociological perspective and intersectionality is covered in several chapters of this textbook. Figure 1.5.16 above illustrates the intersection of race-ethnicity, social class and gender with regards to the income gap. Just as Latinas on average have the lowest income in the above chart, during COVID-19, Latinas also faced disproportionate job loss and unemployment. What we don't see in this chart though is the impact of ethnic background, education, sexuality or other social categories that impact our social structures. Looking at the U.S. Congress, an intersectional analysis informs us that most of our Senators and representatives in the House are Euro-American men. While the blue wave in 2018 ushered in more women, particularly more women of color such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (pictured below in Figure 1.5.17) and Sharice Davids, the first Native American lesbian Congresswoman, time will tell if Congress will alter significantly to reflect the changing U.S. demographics.
Figure \(\PageIndex{17}\): Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected to Congress during the 2018 Blue Wave. (CC BY-NC-SA; Flickr)
Thin
Thinking Sociologically
How does intersectionality enhance our understanding of race and ethnicity? What types of social problems may be better understood by using an intersectional lens?
Key Takeaways
The study of social stratification, or the unequal distribution of resources provides another lens in how to better understand race and ethnic relations.
Society is stratified by race, social class, gender, sexuality, disability and age.
An intersectional lens informs us that we cannot separate the effects of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and disability, as these can rather be understood in their complexity and thus their intersection.
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