Rethinking Intersectionality: Towards an Understanding of Discursive Marginalization

In recent years, political science research on "intersectionality" has breathed new life into perennial debates about group politics, inequality, and marginalization, demonstrating that unitary identity categories are insufficient for understanding group interests. This article critiques t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New political science 2011-06, Vol.33 (2), p.189-210
Main Author: Hindman, Matthew Dean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Citizens
Identity
Inequality
Law
Liberalism
Marginalism
Marginality
Political Power
Political Science
Political Science Research
Political Systems
Politics
Power Structure
Resistance
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Summary:In recent years, political science research on "intersectionality" has breathed new life into perennial debates about group politics, inequality, and marginalization, demonstrating that unitary identity categories are insufficient for understanding group interests. This article critiques this emergent body of literature, noting the theoretical tensions that have surfaced as the concept has taken hold within political science. It posits that the theoretical underpinnings of this growing research paradigm have to date relied upon a liberal conception of political power that advocates greater administrative attention to particularized subgroups. This pervasive liberalism glosses over the complex and dynamic power structures that both produce political marginalization and offer sites of political resistance. Using the internal tensions of LGBTQ politics as a guiding example, this article calls for a move beyond intersectionality and towards a notion of discursive marginalization to more accurately account for the processes by which citizen-subjects are produced.
ISSN:0739-3148
1469-9931
DOI:10.1080/07393148.2011.570080