Lecture 10: Intersectionality

Question 1

two perspectives of how social statuses combine

Answer 1

multiple jeopardy & intersectionality

Question 2

multiple jeopardy

Answer 2

• Independent effects of social statuses
• Hypothesis: race + gender + SES
• Considers disadvantaged statuses as additive

Question 3

issues with the multiple jeopardy hypothesis

Answer 3

• Equivalence of effects
• Overlooks simultaneous positions of power and advantage

Question 4

history of intersectionality

Answer 4

• Term coined by Kimberlee Crenshaw in 1989
• Discrimination against Black women
• Interlocking systems of power and oppression

Question 5

intersectionality

Answer 5

• Argues that there are joint consequences of social status
• Hypothesis: race x gender x SES

Question 6

issues with intersectionality

Answer 6

• Harder to assess (empirically)
• Have to choose a subset of statuses

Question 7

what does intersectionality look like?

Answer 7

• The magnitude of disparities in income change within gender groups based on race (ex. Asian men are advantaged compared to white men)
• These disparities are even more pronounced for transgender and gender non-conforming people by race
• For home ownership in Miami, there are disparities within racial groups by ethnicity (ex. White Cubans, Columbians, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans are more likely to own a home than Black Cubans, Columbians, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans)
• Infant mortality and low infant birth weight are higher for Black women, especially when they are of a higher age

Question 8

interesectionality and mental health

Answer 8

• White women have higher lifetime prevalence rates than Black women
• Black women are most likely to experience a mental disorder within the past year
• They also have higher rates of PTSD compared to white women
• And the highest levels of symptomatology
• Black women have lower levels of depression than white women, especially at higher levels of SES.
• Black women have fewer anti-social problems than Black men at lower levels of SES.
• Black men have lower levels of depression than white men at low levels of SES only.

Question 9

intersectionality, life course, and depression (Hargrove et al., 2020)

Answer 9

• Regardless of race, women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms
• Within the group of men or women, racial minorities experienced higher levels of depressive symptoms than White people
• Depressive symptoms decrease until early midlife and then increase