Social Entrepreneurship & the Amplification of Intersectional Identities

I haven’t posted here the last few days, as I was working on completing an academic paper on social entrepreneurship and intersectionality. Although I think there’s much more that can be said, this is a starting point that I’ve enjoyed considering.

[YouTube Embed. The cover image is a white background with black text that reads Social Entrepreneurship & the Amplification of Intersectional Identities. An orange text bubble reads: A video presented by Hannah Hassler. Most slides are read in part or full during this 12-minute video. I’m working on the transcript!]

Here are a few key slides, for those of you who don’t watch the video!

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Before we go any further, let’s get familiar with some key terms.

Intersectionality: Intersectionality offers an opportunity to move away from a single axis framework and the common centering of some social identities at the expense of others.

Social Entrepreneurs: Social entrepreneurs are private-sector citizens who play critical roles in bringing about catalytic changes in the public sector agenda and the perception of certain social issues” (pp. 393). Waddock & Post, 1991.

Public Entrepreneurs: “…a person who creates or profoundly elaborates a public organization so as to alter greatly the existing pattern of allocation of scarce public resources” (pp. 9). Lewis, 1980.

Single Axis Framework: Within this framework, there is a clear absence of diverse, intersectional narratives, especially those of women and people of color, as well as other marginalized groups. Crenshaw, 1989.]

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Dhamoon: As Dhamoon (2011) notes, intersectionality has “ opened up a conceptual space through which to study how various oppressions work together to produce something unique and distinct from any one form of discrimination standing alone” (p. 231). Intersectionality offers an opportunity to move away from a single axis framework and the common centering of some social identities at the expense of others.

Crenshaw: In the world social entrepreneurship, Crenshaw’s (1989) single axis framework tends to create a myopic bubble in which only some social identities are determining what the “real” issues are, whose stories should be told (and from what perspective), and who should receive funding. Too often this focuses the gaze on a white male narrative, or in the case of feminist work, a white female narrative.

Kong: This may correlate with Kong’s (2010) viewpoint, as demonstrated when he writes: Within the context of social entrepreneurship, strategic advantage can be interpreted as the ability to utilize dynamic and unique resources for strategic renewal in the competitive environment and develop innovative strategic directions that create new opportunities and shape the organizations’ future environment (pp. 162). Building businesses with a view towards intersectionality could be a catalyst for enhancing the strategic advantage of marginalized groups and voices.]

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Hernandez: Hernandez (2020) states that both Collins’ (1990) and Anzaldúa’s (1987) work is a reminder that we must recognize: “…that the white male experience is not the universal and that oppression has shaped the reality of those who fall outside of that reality, [and] both [Collins & Anzaldúa] contend with the ways that race, gender, and class backgrounds mold and shape our identities, and both contend that the way forward is to actively oppose patriarchal white supremacy (p. 308).

Crenshaw: Crenshaw (1989) reminds us that “limiting inquiry to a privileged group of members” is painful and exclusionary. Intersectionality offers an opportunity to move away from a single axis framework and acknowledge multidimensionality and the systemic ways in which intersections impact an individual’s experience in society.

Hernandez: Hernandez notes that although intersectionality can be used to understand any intersection of power, it is often only applied within a Black/white dichotomy that excludes the concerns of many other marginalized groups. The need for inclusive frameworks that feel applicable to the full scope of social identities is a key element of directing and increasing social entrepreneurial movements.]

With I Am Intersectionality, I hope to provide thought-provoking resources that will help us understand more about our own personal intersections, and what those intersections mean in the historical and social moment we are living in today. If you’d like to get an occasional email with articles and resources on intersectionality, sign up here!