Soc 201 Exam 3 Intersectionalities disadvantage and privilege Defined social systems of race class and gender interlock to simultaneously provide individuals both Theory and method Helps shape understanding of inequalities No category is mutually exclusive We all cross many different domains of race class gender age sexuality nationality etc which differentially shape experiences and understandings of the world Systems of oppression are linked in an interlocking system and inform and define one another If researchers don t recognize this fusion generalizations and essentialisms ensue which do not provide the entire picture and many times provide an incorrect one History Didn t talk about differences between women but there are significant differences between women Feminist theory primarily among women of color Critique gender based and race based research failed to account for experiences at lesser points of intersection e g black women Dominant hegemonic second wave feminism Critiques Tended to generalize and essentialize women housewives Example Betty Friedan Based in a socially dominant idea of either or binaries Example Sherry Ortner Ignored differences among women only talked about white heterosexual women Example Nancy Chodorow Combahee River Collective Identity politics Formed in late 1970 s recognize and unify needs of black women Black Feminist Statement 1983 absence of black women in the feminist movement Recognition of differences between women First time that they revealed differences between women Crenshaw intersectionalities Methods can be used as a method not additive locations are intersected unique experiences in all contexts simultaneously both privileged and oppressed at the same time Categories have no foundation in reality language creates categorical reality rather than the other way around Inequalities are rooted in relationships that are defined by race class sexuality and gender Only way to eliminate oppression in society is to eliminate the categories used to section people Anticategorical approach Deconstructs categories into differing groups Poststructuralist Don t need categories Intercategorical approach change over time Adopt existing categories to analyze relationships of inequality among social groups and how they All approaches share the fact that relationships among social groups have inequalities want to understand the changing relationships among the groups Not the intersection of race class and gender in a single social group that s of interest but the relationships among the social groups defined by the entire set of groups constituting each category Quantitative approach Need categories will be maintained Intracategorical Approach Women of color critique Midpoint INBETWEEN between anticategorical intercategorical approaches Recognizes the shortcomings of existing social categories and questions how they make distinctions Does not completely reject the importance of categories like anticategorical approach recognizes the social categories to understand social experience Attempts to reconcile these contrasting views focuses on people who cross the boundaries of constructed categories We have categories we should challenge them and find out why they exist Premise of Intersectionality Tried to conceptualize the way the law responded to issues when both race and gender discrimination were involved Jobs deemed appropriate for blacks and jobs deemed appropriate for women virtually none available for black women African American men in the factory no jobs for women because of gender discrimination Women were placed in the secretarial pool or front office only white women were seen as appropriate as secretaries or personal assistants Black women s claims of race and gender discrimination in hiring rejected Court thought that if women were given leave it would be a super remedy something more than everybody else receives Single axis framework Feminist theory and antiracist politics both exist on single axis framework obscures ignores experiences of those at intersection of race and sex Treats racial and sexual discrimination as mutually exclusive think of all women as white and all blacks as men erases experiences of those at the intersections Feminist framework Evolved from a white racial context overlooks differences by race Not only are black women overlooked in feminist theory that exclusion is reinforced when white women speak for as all women White women have an authoritative universal voice ignores how their own race privileges them over other women and eases some sexism encountered Race framework antidiscrimination policies Defined by white women s and black men s experiences Black women are only protected by having similar experiences to one of the two groups not their intersection or as black women generally Discrimination policies are narrowly tailored to embrace a small set of circumstances Feminist theory and antiracist policy need to be altered and rethought to take intersectionality into account otherwise black women are excluded No more top down approach Need to de marginalize the center and focus on black women All other needs would be recognized the most disadvantaged can reveal all other needs Matrix of Domination Hill Collins approaches to oppression disability etc Black feminist thought has created a paradigmatic shift a shift in thought patterns it rejects additive Does not start with gender and then add other variables such as race class sexual orientation Sees these distinctive systems of oppression as being part of one overarching structure of domination where these systems are dependent on one another Instead of arguing about who experiences the worst oppression intersectionality focuses attention on how systems of oppression interconnect in different peoples lives Racism in Toyland Williams Racial inequality influence where we choose to shop how we shop and what we buy through Hiring policies that favor certain workers Advertising aimed at specific racial ethnic groups Race as status characteristic Whites usually have director manager position non whites have lowest paid or invisible jobs White women as cashiers Cashier is the only person most customers deal with In racist sexist society managers believe that white women are most friendly and solicitous most able to inspire trust and confidence in a transaction White customers seem less respectful of minority service workers than white workers Willing to pay more and wait