Intersectionality

Question 1

What are the 2 approaches to who we are as humans?

Answer 1

Essentialism and constructivism

Question 2

What is the essentialist perspective?

Answer 2

They see differences as internal characteristics of individuals. A person’s identity may have several dimensions of difference, but in principle they are coherent and interrelated. Since differences are internal, they go against action. A person’s difference can be used to predict their behaviour, or at least explain it

Question 3

Give an example of essentialist perspective

Answer 3

A woman is often expected to be caring, so caring for the elderly is seen as arising a woman’s inner gender identity, but not from the processes of gender formation and gender performance

Question 4

What is the constructivist perspective?

Answer 4

Differences and identities are constructed by interacting with others and the wider social environment. Individuals have multiple and fragmented identities, and may vary their identities depending on the situation. The differences are created in social context, where discourse forms ways to categorise people into different or similar ones

Question 5

Give an example of constructivist perspective

Answer 5

Being a woman can mean very different things depending on the other social categories to which a particular woman belongs

Question 6

Why are social categories useful?

Answer 6

To orient our daily activites and for scientific statistics

Question 7

What is intersectionality?

Answer 7

The overlapping of and intersecting of different social categories. One is not only a gender, but also an age, has a specific family status, nationality etc.

Question 8

What is oppression?

Answer 8

A constellation of structural economic, political, psychological, and social relations that systematically limits or reduces the choices and opportunities of a social group; even if there is a choice, the consequences will still be problematic

Question 9

What is privilege?

Answer 9

Underserved advantages (benefits) that are systematically granted to members of a social group solely because of their belonging to that group

Question 10

What is power?

Answer 10

A form of relationship that creates opportunities to control events, resources, other individuals. Power does not operate through physical force, repressive structures, or in the form of law, but in the form of norms. The expression of power is domination

Question 11

What are the elements in the wheel of intersectionality?

Answer 11

Centre: Unique personal circumstances -> power, privileges and identity
2nd circle: Certain aspects related to identity -> privilege and identity, refugee status, disability, class, gender etc.
3rd circle: Depicts different forms of discrimination that affect identity
External circle: Outer circle refers to the greater forces and structures that work together to reinforce exclusion

Question 12

What are the 5 forms of oppression, by Iris Young (2004)?

Answer 12

Exploitation, Marginisation, Powerlessness, Cultural imperialism, Violence

Question 13

What is exploitation in the 5 forms of oppression?

Answer 13

Taking advantages of the work of a group of people to provide unfair compensation

Question 14

What is marginisation in the 5 forms of oppression?

Answer 14

Pushing a group of people to a lower social position or the margins of the society. It pushes an entire category of people out of useful participation in social life

Question 15

What is powerlessness in the 5 forms of oppression?

Answer 15

The dominance of a group of people who form a governing group, and who forbid other groups from participating in decision-making or limit their ability to change the conditions of their lower social status

Question 16

What is cultural imperialism in the 5 forms of oppression?

Answer 16

The acceptance of governing group. Its cultural practices as the norms of the ruling class of the social norm

Question 17

What is the violence in the 5 forms of oppression?

Answer 17

The threat to harm the bodies or property of a group of people as a way of controlling them

Question 18

What is the aim of intersectionality?

Answer 18

To reveal how different forms of discrimination accumulate, combine, overlap, and intersect in the experiences of marginalised individuals or groups

Question 19

What is an important principle of intersectionality?

Answer 19

People’s lives cannot be explained by just one particular category. People’s lives are multi-layered and complex

Question 20

Can people experience privilege and oppression at the same time?

Answer 20

Abseloutely

Question 21

How can we see the issue of intersectionality raised in the feminist movement?

Answer 21

It was white middle-class and upper-class women who were the first to fight for their rights. With high disregard to black women and lower-class women