Intersectionality

Shweta Tripathi

The book Intersectionality by Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge (ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3969-7, Polity Press, $24.95) is a fascinating intersectionality framework. It shows how it can be used as both a tool for analysis and a political practice to understand and fight oppressive systems. The 2020 publication builds on the 2016 original text by looking at things from a more global point of view and incorporating current social movements to show that intersectionality is still important in both academic and political settings. The authors say that oppressive systems based on identity categories like race, gender, class, and sexuality are not separate but deeply linked. This means that one needs an intersectional approach to fully understand how power and inequality work in society. One important thing that this book says is that identity categories like race, gender, class, ability and others shouldn’t be seen as different things. Instead, privilege and oppression work together to make situations that are complicated and multilayered. Most of the time, these categories are not taken into account by traditional ways of social analysis. The framework gives a better picture of how people’s lives are affected by how different power structures interact with each other. The book looks at how people experience social inequality in different ways depending on the unique mix of identity groups they have. Scholars in sociology, political science, and gender studies can’t do without this method because it changes the way people think about power dynamics by focusing on how oppression works in relationships. The theoretical talk is very helpful, but the best part of the work is how it uses intersectionality to look at global social movements. A number of case studies by the authors show how useful this framework is in real life, showing that it can be used in both cultural and political settings. One may look at the experiences of Black women in Brazil and Dalit women in India to show how intersectionality helps people understand the different kinds of abuse these women face that can’t be fully understood by looking at race, gender, or class alone. By using these case studies, the writers bring attention to how intersectionality can help activists come up with plans to fight multiple oppressive systems that overlap. This is very important in global settings where local groups might not always follow Western academic definitions of identity but still have to deal with complicated forms of exclusion.

Neoliberalism, its ideology, and policies that prioritise free market competitiveness are also criticised. The book also shows how it makes social problems worse, especially for groups that are already on the outside. Neoliberal policies, which focus on individualism and market-driven solutions, hurt women of colour, LGBTQ people, and the working poor more than other groups.

They show how intersectionality is an important way to think about and fight against austerity and neoliberal reforms by using cases from protests around the world. Neoliberalism is criticised strongly, but there isn’t as much talk about how intersectionality can be used to offer real options to neoliberalism. While the book mostly criticises the effects of neoliberalism, it doesn’t fully look at how intersectionality could help create economic or social policies that question capitalist structures. Getting rid of this gap could make the book more useful in real life and add to discussions about social justice. There is also talk about identity politics in the book. It makes the case that intersectionality is a better way to understand identity than standard frameworks because it includes more aspects of it. This discussion about Black feminism is especially important because it shows how main stream feminist groups have often ignored the experiences of women of colour. By showing how race, gender and class affect each other, intersectionality makes it easier to understand identity in a way that includes more people. Even though the writers support intersectionality’s openness, they don’t talk much about the problems that come up within identity-based activism. How can activists deal with the conflicts between solidarity and difference in groups where people have many identities, some of which are at odds with each other? It might help to learn more about how intersectionality works in real life by looking into these tensions in more depth. This is especially important in large-scale social movements where different groups are trying to work together toward shared goals. One of the most important parts of the book is its criticism of how intersectionality is institutionalised in academic settings. The writers are worried that intersectionality, which was first used to fight for social justice, might lose its political meaning when it is used in schools. This criticism is fair and reflects a larger worry in the field about how radical ideas might be used in more traditional academic situations. The critique of institutionalisation is important, but the book doesn’t go into enough detail about how scholars can balance the need for academic rigour in academia with the political roots of the framework. In institutionalised places, how can intersectionality stay radical and important? Getting to the bottom of this question would help the conversation about intersectionality’s place in education go deeper and help it grow as a tool for both research and activism.

Additionally, the book highlights the difficulties of using intersectionality in action and organising in the real world. There are case studies that show how intersectionality is used in the real world, but the book would benefit from going into more detail about the practical and strategic problems activists face when they try to use inequality. Despite being a strong way to understand oppression, intersectionality can be hard to use in real life, especially when trying to solve problems that involve multiple forms of marginalization that overlap. For instance, how do organisers who have different goals organise to build coalitions? Although only briefly addressed, these problems could be looked at in more detail to give more specific advice on how to use intersectionality in grassroots organising. It uses language that is both easy to understand and rigorously academic, finding a balance between complicated theoretical talks and useful real-world examples. Scholars and regular readers can both understand how the authors talk about tough ideas. Using global case studies makes the book even easier to read because they connect theory analysis to real-life experiences. This makes the academic discussion more visible and rooted. Although the wording is mostly clear, some parts, especially the ones that talk about how the theory of intersectionality has grown, could use shorter writing. The academic depth of the material can sometimes make it harder to understand the main points, which can make it harder for non-expert readers who might benefit from a simpler explanation of the framework. A more critical understanding of the concept’s flaws would be helpful, even though intersectionality has many good points. Despite showing how useful intersectionality can be in dealing with social problems, the book doesn’t go into enough detail about its flaws. As an example, intersectionality may overlook how privilege works where different identity groups meet. Beyond talking about the experiences of those on the edges, the book could use a more in-depth look at how intersectionality can be used to understand and break down power within privileged groups. A broader framework for looking at both oppression and privilege would be created by this, which would make the talk better as a whole. Therefore, Intersectionality is an important and timely addition to the study of social inequality because it gives people both a theoretical basis and useful tools for action. Criticising neoliberalism and involving global movements in the book shows that the framework is useful in both scholarly and activist settings. A more in-depth look at the tensions that come with intersectional activism, a more critical engagement with the framework’s limitations, and more talk about how intersectionality might offer real alternatives to neoliberal and capitalist structures would make the text stronger. Although there are some problems, the book is still an important resource for learning about how power, identity, and social justice interact in a world that is becoming more complicated and linked.

[Shweta Tripathi, Research Scholar, Banaras Hindu University, shweta1999.07@gmail.com]

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 7, Aug 10 - 16, 2025