Intersectionality and coalitions in social movement research—A survey and outlook

Silke Roth

doi:10.1111/soc4.12885

Abstract

AbstractOver the last 30 years, intersectionality has become a prominent concept, but in social movement scholarship, its adoption has yet been limited. So far, the concept is primarily employed to analyze the mobilization of women of color and other gendered mobilizations. In this article, I argue that intersectionality matters for all social movements—both as an analytic and as a political strategy. It is important to understand that all social movements and movement organizations are shaped by multiple axes of privilege and discrimination, which influence who participates in these movements and how, what demands are pursued and which are neglected, and how the issues of the movements and movement organizations are framed. My review starts out with defining and distinguishing between structural intersectionality and political intersectionality. Then, I survey a range of social movements from an intersectional perspective. This is followed by a discussion of coalitions and other strategies to achieve political intersectionality. The article concludes with an outlook on future directions for intersectional analyses in social movement scholarship.

Highlights

Over the last 30 years, intersectionality has become a prominent concept, but in social movement scholarship, its adoption has yet been limited
An intersectional perspective on social movements draws attention to unmarked and privileged categories. This means that adopting an intersectional perspective encourages social movements and those who study them to ask: how homogenous or heterogeneous are the constituencies and leadership of social movements and to what extent do the agendas of these movements reflect their homogeneity or heterogeneity? I argue that social movement scholarship benefits from explicitly adopting an intersectional perspective to take into account that:
My survey of structural and political intersectionality in a variety of social movements starts out with women’s movements and in particular the mobilization of women of color, which are most prominently associated with the concept of intersectionality, followed by a discussion of civil rights movements and LGBTQ+ movements

Summary

Introduction

Over the last 30 years, intersectionality has become a prominent concept, but in social movement scholarship, its adoption has yet been limited. Structural intersectionality informs positionality or how participants experience their social status—for example, with respect to gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, or sexuality.

Results

Conclusion