Conference: Engaging with Intersectionality in Population Research

The cross-disciplinary travels of intersectionality have drawn considerable commentary, both positive and negative. Initially, the framework, especially its focus on intersecting social positions and their relations to systems of power, was seen as better suited for qualitative research. More recently, quantitative social scientists have proposed a range of strategies to incorporate intersectional insights: from intersectional dummy variables and stratified models to multilevel approaches, latent variables, and classification trees. A review of recent research that refers to “intersectionality,” published in 10 English-language demographic journals, suggests that choosing the ‘right’ modeling strategy may be less important than engaging more explicitly with the framework and its foundations in Black feminism. Deeper engagement reveals multiple entry points for how to do intersectional research while working to improve both our studies of the social world and people’s life outcomes.