Cited by 275Feminist Theory and Gender StudiesGender Politics and RepresentationGender, Health, and Social Inequality

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 37 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 10 of the 74 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

The Structure of Intersectionality: A Comparative Politics of Gender

Weldon, S. Laurel·2006·Politics & Gender

Abstract

A comparative analysis of gender relations incorporates and goes beyond a “women and politics” approach by focusing on the organization of political life, illuminating the systematic way that social norms, laws, practices, and institutions advantage certain groups and forms of life and disadvantage others. In order to illuminate the various ways that women and men are advantaged and disadvantaged as women and men, gender analysis must incorporate analysis of race, class, sexuality, and other axes of disadvantage, and explore interactions among them. These axes are defined differently in different national contexts, and so examining variation across national borders illuminates the variety of social arrangements that are consistent with human biology: This type of analysis thereby denaturalizes and politicizes gender, racial/ethnic, and class relations (among others). The wide variety of modes and degrees of resistance to these forms of social organization, and success in challenging them, illuminate and inspire new strategies of resistance for people in other countries.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Weldon argues that a comparative politics of gender should treat gender as a social structure and analyze how it interacts with race, class, and other axes of inequality. She proposes an “intersectionality-plus” model that permits autonomous, multiplicative, and intersectional effects, rather than assuming all effects are intersectional only.

Key findings

  • A women-and-politics approach recovers women’s experiences, but a politics of gender must examine how gender structures advantage and disadvantage groups and how gender norms shape men and women across race and class.
  • Weldon contends that intersectionality is often read as denying any independent effects of gender, race, or class; she argues this “intersectionality-only” reading is too restrictive and is not required by the concept itself.
  • She distinguishes additive, multiplicative, and intersectional effects, using regression-style equations and a transparency/quilt metaphor; intersectional effects are qualitatively distinct and cannot be derived from the separate axes.
  • The “intersectionality-plus” model is better suited to comparative research because the salience and interaction of social structures can vary across countries and over time.

Methods

  • Theoretical/conceptual essay with no original empirical data or sample; it engages feminist theory, intersectionality scholarship, and comparative politics.
  • Main analysis is conceptual: it defines gender as structure, reviews critiques of gender as a category, and formalizes possible relationships among axes of inequality.
  • It uses illustrative examples—such as light passing through colored transparencies and regression equations—to distinguish models of structural interaction.

Limitations

  • Stated: the concept of intersectionality is indeterminate about how social structures relate; further theoretical and empirical specification is needed in particular contexts.
  • Stated: the argument does not reject intersectionality but calls for more theorization of the structure of intersectionality.
  • Evident: the essay is programmatic and does not test the proposed models empirically; the equations and metaphors are heuristic, and no data are analyzed.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/s1743923x06231040

Cites

37 of 37 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

81 Own interpretation · 41 No basis given · 25 Sources not found · 9 Own result · 7 Supported so far · 5 Not checked yet · 3 Partly supported · 3 No full text of the sources · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 81 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 77
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 35
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 2
93 of 93
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Social structures of gender, race, and class exist and have effects that can be analyzed separately.

    “Analyzing gender relations, or social structures more generally, means focusing on social relations between and among groups of women and groups of men, and on the way the broader social context constrains and enables individual agents (Htun 2005;Hurtado 1989;Young 2005Young , 2000)).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Comparative analysis across national contexts is possible and valuable for understanding gender politics.

    “This makes the intersectionality-plus approach particularly useful for comparative political analysis, and it makes comparative political analysis critical for understanding gender (and race, and class) politics.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Publishing in top political science journals is necessary for comparative gender scholarship to achieve the impact and credibility the field desires.

    “it is also true that we will not have the impact we desire until we tackle some of these key journals.”
    “But there are many challenges in bringing greater credibility to the subfield.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Gender is central to understanding core political science topics such as social movements, civil society, democratization, and ethnic identity.

    “why good comparativists need to understand women's movements to understand social movements; why they need to understand women's mobilization to understand civil society; why women's rights are human rights; why one cannot understand democratization without understanding gender exclusions; and how gender is central to the construction of ethnic identity.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Greater methodological pluralism in political science is desirable.

    “We need to encourage the new trends toward greater methodological pluralism within the discipline.”
5 of 5

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

4 of 4

Citations

Cites

Show all 16 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Brewer, 1999, Race, Gender and Class, 6, 29
  2. Beckwith, 2000, European Journal of Political Research, 37, 431

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 201–275 of 275

Metadata

Authors
Weldon, S. L.
Affiliations
Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
Corresponding author
Weldon, S. Laurel
Venue
Politics & Gender
Published
2006-06
Volume
2
Issue
02
ISSN
  • 1743-923X (ISSN-L)
  • 1743-9248
OpenAlex
W2152330294
Cited by
274
References
16
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 6
FWCI
17.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Politics & Gender (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Feminist Theory and Gender Studies
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Politics and Representation
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Gender, Health, and Social Inequality
Keywords
intersectionality, gender relations, race, class, sexuality, women in politics, comparative politics, social norms, institutions, resistance

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