More than a buzzword: how intersectionality can advance social inequalities in health research

ABSTRACT

Intersectionality is increasingly adopted in research to understand the complex ways that social inequalities shape health. Intersectional research thus explores how multiple forms of oppression intersect and shape how marginalised social groups experience health issues. Yet intersectionality research has often neglected to focus on the upstream structural factors that (re)produce social inequalities in health. In this paper, we argue that intersectionality can further advance social inequality in health research when it is used to understand more than just the multiplicity of socially marginalised groups’ experiences and identities, but also how interlocking social structures and power relations perpetuate social inequalities in health. We suggest that analysing policy with an intersectional lens is a key entry point to empirically explicate the underlying mechanisms that permit social inequalities in health to persist. To illustrate our argument, we use the example of how an intersectional perspective can be adopted to better understand the role of tobacco control policies in contributing to social inequalities in smoking.

KEYWORDS:

• Intersectionality
• social theory
• social inequalities in health
• public policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute [grant number 705561] and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [grant number 155425].