Class 9 (Prof. dr. Joz Motmans) Intersectionality as a Method

MacKinnon: Intersectionality as Method: A Note

legal cases

Choo& Ferree: Practicing Intersectionality in Sociological Research

(Hancock)

political science

qualitative

qualitative

qualitative

practical examples for (quantitative) research on SOGIES

I " beginsin the concrete experiencesof the race an gender togetherin the livesof real people" >> not just theory

law cases - missed intersectional opportunities

an analysis which is greater than a sum of racism + sexism

both a normative theoretical argument and an approach to conducting empirical research + role of paradigms

3 conceptual approaches

UNITARY approach. examines/privileges a single category (race OR gender), universalizing (one explanation fits all members of the group), categories as stable, no within-group differences

MULTIPLE approach. multiple categories as isolated phenomena (race AND gender). Categories as static. Homogenity of cases.Certain groups fall between intersections

INTERSECTIONAL approach. intersecting categories (race INTERACTS with gender). Within-category differences. "Fuzzy" concepts.

IDENTITY POLITICS For standard identity politics supporters, a unitary category serves to bind ppl into a political group based on a uniform set of experiences"

CRITIQUE OF I 1) ever-exponentially incresing sub-categories 2) mostly - case-studies >> assumption that I - "mere description"

3 defining aspects of I

inclusion ("giving voice to the oppressed")

analytical interactions, analytical shift

institutional primacy

Weldon (2008) Intersectionality only OR intersectionality plus

3 styles of understanding I

group-centered (inclusion). multiply-marginalized groups at the center of research BUT no one is ever just privileged or oppressed + ly including ‘difference’ often substitutes an implicit norm of whiteness or heterosexuality

process centered (interactions). Highlights power as relational. Core - comparative analysis. Context. Explicit comparison

system centered (institutions). I as shaping the entire social system. Historically determined.

research design

importance of language