Intersectionality in regards to social science

NO. 1

Modern society in America, as a fact, has adapted the constructed norms of the Victorian Era in England, by which I mean how economic class, race, and sexuality are managed, or for lack of a better term, is misconstrued with Eurocentric ideals; Since the creation of the United States, the only way you would be able to receive the privileges society holds was if you were white, straight and economically secure.

NO. 2

Throughout the decade, society has changed drastically regarding talks on these particular subjects. However, we still have a long way to go in advancing a better community for everyone. Intersectionality, created or introduced in the 1980s, ‘‘as a heuristic term to focus attention on the vexed dynamics of difference and the solidarities of sameness in the context of discrimination and social movement politics. It exposed how single-axis thinking undermines legal thinking, disciplinary knowledge production, and struggles for social justice. Over the intervening decades, intersectionality has proved to be a productive concept that has been deployed in disciplines such as history, sociology, literature, philosophy, and anthropology as well as feminist studies, ethnic studies, queer studies, and legal studies.’’

NO. 3

So, intersectionality is quite popular in learning all these studies. Patricia Hill Collins, a sociologist famous for writing the book ‘Black Feminist thought’ and ‘Race, Class, and Gender, writes about the politics of gender and race and how they shape and influence knowledge. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, and Collins theorized that race and gender are part of our ‘social being.’ ‘‘Social science argues that to understand society and group life truly, one must be removed from the particulars and concerns of the subjects being studied. In this way, subjects are turned into objects of study. Collins’ (2000) alternative epistemology claims that only those men and women who experience the consequences of social being can select ‘topics for investigation and methodologies used’ (p. 258). Black feminist epistemology begins with “connected knowers,” those who know from personal experience—Rather than believing that researchers can be value-free, Collins argues that all knowledge is intrinsically value-laden and should thus be tested by the presence of empathy and compassion. Collins sees this tenet as healing the binary break between the intellect and emotion that Eurocentric knowledge values.’’