Quotes From Intersectionality Scholarship: Azmitia & Thomas, 2015
In addition to Crenshaw and Dhamoon, many other scholars are writing about intersectionality from both applied and theoretical lenses. Azmitia & Thomas published “Intersectionality and the Development of Self and Identity” in 2015. Like my other Quotes posts, the point of this post is to provide you with relevant information directly from the scholarly source. The full article is linked above as well.
Gender, race, class, sexuality, physical ableness, and other dimensions of identity situate some individuals as more powerful than others and consequently, perpetuate differential access to resources and privileges (Azmitia, Syed, & Radmacher, 2008; Cole, 2009; Giles, 2013; McCall, 2005; Stewart & McDermott, 2004).
Although there is no scientific reason for why people’s gender, skin color, social class, or religion affords them special power and privileges, these cultural and social locations of power and privilege are reproduced across generations through enculturation and socialization (Bordieu, 1989; Giles, 2013).
An intersectional lens challenges scholars to rethink dichotomies such as gender that essentialize differences, power, and privilege (Stewart & McDermott, 2004), and commit them to ask “The other question” — how variations in one domain of identity, for example, gender, become more complex when another identity domain, for example, race/ethnicity, is introduced into the theoretical and empirical discussion (Davis, 2008).
Nevertheless, theory and research on self and identity, and more broadly, culture and diversity, that considers only one domain of difference, is currently viewed as outdated because it ignores the reality that people simultaneously inhabit many categories of difference.
Levine-Rasky (2011), for example, proposed a conceptual model to explain how the context influences the situational salience of particular identity domains but still leaves active other intersecting identity domains, even if individuals are not immediately aware of them. Although her model provides a possible blueprint for research that addresses the problem of endless lists of inter- secting identities, it begs the question about whether these intersections exist in the minds and everyday lives of children, adolescents, and adults or whether they are simply fodder for academic and political debates — that is, do ordinary folks articulate their multiple identities as intersecting in the structural and more local contexts of their lives?
Cole suggests that asking whether there are any similarities in experiences that cut across categories may be essential for moving beyond individual experiences to considering how institutions and cultures contextualize individuals’ experiences to create the much-needed common ground so subordinated groups can come together for social change.
References
Azmitia, M., Syed, M., & Radmacher, K. (2008). On the intersection of personal and social identities: Introduction and evidence from a longitudinal study of emerging adults. In M. Azmitia, M. Syed & K. Radmacher (Eds.) New directions for child and adolescent development: The intersections of personal and social identities (Vol. 120, pp. 1–16). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Bordieu, P. (1989). Social space and symbolic power. Sociological Theory, 7(1), 14–25.
Cole, E. R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64(3), 170–180.
Davis, K. (2008). Intersectionality as buzzword: A sociology of science perspective on what makes feminist theory successful. Feminist Theory, 9(1), 67–85.
Giles, H. (January 19, 2013). Intersectionality, or, all the ways that we hurt matter. Retrieved from http://tenhundredwordsofscience.tumblr.com (filed under Politics).
Levine-Rasky, C. (2011). Intersectional theory applied to whiteness and middle- classness. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation, and Culture, 17(2), 239–253.
McCall, L. (2005). The complexities of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(3), 1771–1800.
Stewart, A. J., & McDermott, C. (2004). Gender in psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 519–544.
