Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-9t7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-04T11:40:56.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Causally Interpreting Intersectionality Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Liam Kofi Bright ,
Daniel Malinsky  and
Morgan Thompson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social scientists report difficulties in drawing out testable predictions from the literature on intersectionality theory. We alleviate that difficulty by showing that some characteristic claims of the intersectionality literature can be interpreted causally. The formalism of graphical causal modeling allows claims about the causal effects of occupying intersecting identity categories to be clearly represented and submitted to empirical testing. After outlining this causal interpretation of intersectional theory, we address some concerns that have been expressed in the literature claiming that membership in demographic categories can have causal effects.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 83 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 60 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

†.

The authors would like to thank Clark Glymour, Mazviita Chirimuuta, Tommy J. Curry, David Danks, Danielle Wenner, Jim Woodward, and participants at the University of California, Irvine Hypatia Conference in 2014, as well as anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

References

Antony, Louise. 2012. “Different Voices or Perfect Storm: Why Are There So Few Women in Philosophy?” Journal of Social Philosophy 43 (3): 227–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, and Zuberi, Tukufu. 2008. “Toward a Definition of White Logic and White Methods.” In White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology, ed. Zuberi, Tukufu and Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Boutilier, Craig, Friedman, Nir, Goldszmidt, Moises, and Koller, Daphne. 1996. “Context-Specific Independence in Bayesian Networks.” In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 115–23. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Bowleg, Lisa. 2008. “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research.” Sex Roles 59 (5–6): 312–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carastathis, Aanna. 2014. “The Concept of Intersectionality in Feminist Theory.” Philosophy Compass 9 (5): 304–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chickering, David M., Heckerman, David, and Meek, Christopher. 1997. “A Bayesian Approach to Learning Bayesian Networks with Local Structure.” In Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 80–89. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Chickering, David M., and Meek, Christopher. 2002. “Finding Optimal Bayesian Networks.” In Proceedings of the Eighteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 94–102. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Christensen, Anne-Dorte, and Jensen, Sune Q. 2012. “Doing Intersectional Analysis: Methodological Implications for Qualitative Research.” Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 20 (2): 109–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, Elizabeth. 2009. “Intersectionality and Research in Psychology.” American Psychologist 64 (3): 170–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Patricia H., and Chepp, Valerie. 2013. “Intersectionality.” In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, ed. Wayla, G., Celis, K., Kantoha, J., and Weldon, S. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, Tommy J. Forthcoming. “Black Studies, Not Morality: Anti-black Racism, Neo-liberal Cooptation, and the Challenges to Black Studies under Intersectional Axioms.” In Emerging Voices of Africana: Disciplinary Resonances, ed. M. Tillotson. Trenton, NJ: Third World–Red Sea.Google Scholar
Dotson, Kristie. 2014. “Making Sense: The Multistability of Oppression and the Importance of Intersectionality.” In Making Sense of Race and Gender: An Intersectional Approach, ed. Goswami, M., O’Donovan, M. M., and Yount, L. London: Pickering & Chatto.Google Scholar
Dubrow, Joshua K. 2008. “How Can We Account for Intersectionality in Quantitative Analysis of Survey Data? Empirical Illustration for Central and Eastern Europe.” Research and Methods 17 (5–6): 85–100.Google Scholar
Eberhardt, Frederick. 2009. “Introduction to the Epistemology of Causation.” Philosophy Compass 4 (6): 931–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egami, Naoki, and Imai, Kosuke. 2015. “Causal Interaction in High-Dimension.” Unpublished manuscript, Princeton University. http://imai.princeton.edu/research/files/int.pdf.Google Scholar
Freeman, Lauren. 2014. “Creating Safe Spaces: Strategies for Confronting Implicit and Explicit Bias and Stereotype Threat in the Classroom.” APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy 13 (2): 3–12.Google Scholar
Friedman, Nir, and Goldszmidt, Moises. 1998. “Learning Bayesian Networks with Local Structure.” In Learning in Graphical Models, ed. Irwin, Michael I., 421–59. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Geiger, Dan, and Heckerman, David. 1991. “Advances in Probabilistic Reasoning.” In Proceedings of the Seventh Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 118–26. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Glymour, Clark N., and Glymour, Madelyn R. 2014. “Race and Sex Are Causes.” Epidemiology 25 (4): 488–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenland, Sander, Pearl, Judea, and Robins, James M. 1999. “Causal Diagrams for Epidemiologic Research.” Epidemiology 10 (1): 37–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2007. “When Multiplication Doesn’t Equal Quick Addition: Examining Intersectionality as a Research Paradigm.” Perspectives on Politics 5 (1): 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haslanger, Sally. 2015. “What Is (Social) Structural Explanation?” Philosophical Studies 31 (8116): 1–18.Google Scholar
Hawkesworth, Mary. 2006. Feminist Inquiry: From Political Conviction to Methodological Innovation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Hinze, Susan W., Lin, Jieulu, and Andersson, Tanetta E. 2012. “Can We Capture the Intersections? Older Black Women, Education, and Health.” Women’s Health Issues 22 (1): e91–e98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, Paul W. 2008. “Causation and Race.” In White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology, ed. Zuberi, Tukufu and Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Hoyer, Patrick O., Shimizu, Shohei, Kerminen, Antti J., and Palviainen, Markus. 2008. “Estimation of Causal Effects Using Linear Non-Gaussian Causal Models with Hidden Variables.” International Journal of Approximate Reasoning 49 (2): 362–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan-Zachery, Julia S. 2007. “Am I a Black Woman or a Woman Who Is Black? A Few Thoughts on the Meaning of Intersectionality.” Politics and Gender 3 (2): 254–64.Google Scholar
Kantola, Johanna, and Nousiainen, Kevät. 2009. “Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Europe: Introducing the Theme.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 11 (4): 459–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leitgeb, Hannes. 2013. “Scientific Philosophy, Mathematical Philosophy, and All That.” Metaphilosophy 44 (3): 267–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maglo, Koffi N., and Martin, Linda J. 2012. “Researching vs. Reifying Race: The Case of Obesity Research.” Humana Mente 22 (1): 111–43.Google Scholar
McCall, Leslie. 2005. “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30 (3): 1771–1800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meek, Christopher, and Glymour, Clark. 1994. “Conditioning and Intervening.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (4): 1001–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Todd. 2010. “Arizona, the Anti-immigrant Laboratory.” NACLA Report on the Americas. https://nacla.org/node/6681.Google Scholar
Moss-Racusin, Corinne A., Dovidio, John F., Brescoll, Victoria L., Graham, Mark J., and Handelsman, Jo. 2012. “Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases Favor Male Students.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (41): 16474–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mutua, Athena D. 2013. “Multidimensionality Is to Masculinities as Intersectionality Is to Feminism.” Nevada Law Journal 13 (2): 341–67.Google Scholar
Pearl, Judea. 2001. “Direct and Indirect Effects.” In Proceedings of the Seventeenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Pearl, Judea 2009. Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popper, Karl. 2008. Conjectures and Refutations. New York: Routledge Classics.Google Scholar
Rubin, Donald B. 2005. “Causal Inference Using Potential Outcomes: Design, Modeling, Decisions.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 100 (469): 322–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimizu, Shohei, Hoyer, Patrik O., Hyvärinen, Aapo, and Kerminen, Antti. 2006. “A Linear Non-Gaussian Acyclic Model for Causal Discovery.” Journal of Machine Learning Research 7:2003–30.Google Scholar
Spirtes, Peter, Glymour, Clark N., and Scheines, Richard. 2000. Causation, Prediction, and Search. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, Abigail J., and McDermott, Christa. 2004. “Gender in Psychology.” Annual Review of Psychology 55:519–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Morgan, Adleberg, Toni, Sims, Sam, and Nahmias, Eddy. Forthcoming. “Why Do Women Leave Philosophy? Surveying Students at the Introductory Level.” Philosophers’ Imprint.Google Scholar
VanderWeele, Tyler J. 2015. Explanation in Causal Inference: Methods for Mediation and Interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
VanderWeele, Tyler J., and Robinson, Whitney R. 2014. “On the Causal Interpretation of Race in Regressions Adjusting for Confounding and Mediating Variables.” Epidemiology 25 (4): 473–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warner, Leah R. 2008. “A Best Practices Guide to Intersectional Approaches.” Sex Roles 59 (5–6): 454–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weldon, Laurel S. 2006. “The Structure of Intersectionality: A Comparative Politics of Gender.” Politics and Gender 20 (6): 805–25.Google Scholar
Woodward, James. 2003. Making Things Happen. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar