Psychology
Intersectionality and Multiple Axes of Social Stratification
Quick fact
Intersectionality was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, and it grew out of a court case where a group of Black women lost a discrimination lawsuit because the court refused to see how race and gender combined to create a unique form of harm.
Why this is interesting
Imagine you are described by your gender, your race, your class, and your disability status all at once. How do these parts of you combine to shape the way the world treats you?
Read the full explanation
Understanding Intersectionality and Multiple Axes of Social Stratification
Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how different social categories—like race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, and others—overlap and interact. Instead of treating these categories as separate and additive, intersectionality shows that they create a single, integrated experience. For example, a Black woman is not just a woman plus a Black person; she faces a distinct form of discrimination that is not simply the sum of racism and sexism. Think of a road intersection: traffic from multiple directions can collide at the same point, creating a unique hazard. Similarly, multiple systems of power (such as racism, sexism, classism) meet at the individual, producing a unique experience that cannot be understood by looking at each road in isolation.
A deeper explanation
The mechanism behind intersectionality is the simultaneous operation of multiple axes of social stratification. Each axis—such as race, gender, class, and others—represents a dimension along which power and resources are distributed unequally. These axes are not independent; they interact multiplicatively, meaning the combined effect is not simply additive. A person at the intersection of disadvantaged categories experiences a unique form of oppression that is qualitatively different from the experiences of those who belong to only one disadvantaged group. For example, a low-income, disabled, transgender woman of color faces a combination of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and transphobia that cannot be understood by examining each axis separately. The concept's power lies in revealing these compounded, often invisible, experiences, and it forces an analysis that goes beyond a single-axis approach. It also highlights that everyone—including those with privilege—has a unique position in this matrix, shaped by their various identities.