Knowra Intersectionality Intersectionality Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how overlapping social identities and systems of power shape distinct experiences of advantage and disadvantage. It examines how these forces interact rather than treating each identity or form of oppression in isolation.
Social identity : A person’s sense of self and social position in relation to groups and categories. Identities such as race, gender, and class can interact rather than operate independently.
Kimberlé Crenshaw : An American legal scholar who introduced intersectionality as a framework for analyzing discrimination. Crenshaw named the framework and showed how legal categories could erase Black women’s claims.
Matrix of domination : Patricia Hill Collins’s model of interlocking systems of power operating across structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and interpersonal domains. It describes how multiple systems organize power together at different levels.
Intersectional research methods : Research approaches that analyze how multiple social positions and systems of power interact in a specific context. These methods translate the framework into choices about questions, evidence, and analysis.
Single-axis framework : An analytical approach that examines one social category or form of inequality at a time. Intersectionality challenges explanations that isolate race, gender, or another axis from the rest.
Social stratification : The hierarchical organization of people into unequal social groups. Intersectionality examines how overlapping identities position people within social hierarchies.
Black feminism : A political and intellectual tradition addressing the intertwined effects of racism, sexism, and other forms of power on Black women. Intersectionality grew from Black feminist analysis of experiences that single-issue politics overlooked.
Intersectional discrimination : Discrimination arising from the interaction of multiple protected or socially marginalized identities. It names the specific disadvantage that single-category discrimination tests may fail to detect.
Intersectional feminism : Feminist analysis and activism attentive to how gender interacts with race, class, sexuality, disability, and other structures. It applies intersectional analysis to feminist theory, organizing, and political priorities.
Additive model of discrimination : A model that treats disadvantages associated with separate identities as quantities that simply accumulate. Intersectionality emphasizes interaction and distinct effects, not just a sum of separate burdens.
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