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Crit Crim (2013) 21:305318
DOI 10.1007/s10612-013-9203-6
Hillary Potter
Published online: 18 June 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract Intersectional criminology is a theoretical approach that necessitates a critical reection on the impact of interconnected identities and statuses of individuals and groups in relation to their experiences with crime, the social control of crime, and any crime-related issues. This approach is grounded in intersectionality, a concept developed from the tenets of women of color feminist theory and activism. To demonstrate how intersectionality is useful in criminology, this article reviews a sampling of feminist and critical research conducted on Black girls and womens experiences with crime, victimization, and criminal legal system processes. This research demonstrates the interlaced social impacts of race, gender, femininity/masculinity ideals, sexuality, and socioeconomic class. This article also provides a basis for widely deploying an intersectional approach throughout the eld of criminology across all social identities and statuses.
Identities are socially constructed, uid, and dynamic, and poweror the lack thereofis situated differentially throughout the many social identities. Identities and power are relevant throughout all social aspects of human life, so they must also be considered within the contexts of criminality, victimization, and informal and formal responses to crime. The identities that garner the bulk of the attention in social science inquiries are race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality, culture, religion, age, and socioeconomic class; however, any identity/ies an individual holds should be considered for analysis in criminological research based on social forces that generate crime and the reactions to crime by victims, the government, and general society. The concept that captures the multiplicative social effects of an individuals identities has come to be known by the term intersectionality.
Coined by Black feminist legal scholar Kimberl Crenshaw in the late 1980s (Alexander-Floyd 2012; Cho et al. 2013; Davis 2008; Nash 2008), intersectionality was initially presented to recognize the legal dilemmas faced by Black women being recognized as
H. Potter (&)
Department of Sociology, University of Colorado at Boulder, UCB 327, Ketchum 219, Boulder, CO 80309-0327, USAe-mail: [email protected]
Intersectional Criminology: Interrogating Identity and Power in Criminological Research and Theory
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facing employment-related discrimination different than that faced by Black men and by White women. Some feminist social scientists proclaim that intersectionality is...