Department of Sociology, 1291 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Apr;226:249-253. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.017. Epub 2019 Jan 21.
The recent pair of studies by Bauer and Scheim make substantial contributions to the literature on intersectionality and health: a validation study of the Intersectional Discrimination Index and a study outlining a promising analytic approach to intersectionality that explicitly considers the roles of social processes in the production of health inequalities.
In this commentary, I situate Bauer and Scheim's contribution within the wider landscape of intersectional scholarship. I also respond to emerging concerns about the value of descriptive intersectional approaches, in particular the critique that such approaches blunt the critical edge and transformative aims of intersectionality. Finally, I outline important future directions for intersectional scholarship modeling social processes, in particular, the need for addressing structural determinants of inequalities intersectionally.
Whether a study is descriptive or analytic, engagement with theory is essential in order to maintain the critical and transformative edge of intersectionality. Theories of population health such as fundamental causes, social production, and ecosocial theory, should be framed and applied in explicitly intersectional terms. As the field moves toward intersectional evaluations of social processes, attention should be given to all ecological levels but especially the structural/institutional level. This attention includes considering interactions between intersectional social strata and contexts and considering the roles of structural-level discrimination in shaping population health outcomes intersectionally.
Bauer 和 Scheim 的最近两项研究为交叉性与健康领域的文献做出了实质性贡献：一项交叉歧视指数验证研究和一项概述了一种有前途的分析方法的研究，该方法明确考虑了社会过程在产生健康不平等方面的作用。
在这篇评论中，我将 Bauer 和 Scheim 的贡献置于交叉性学术研究的更广泛背景中。我还回应了关于描述性交叉方法价值的新出现的担忧，特别是批评这种方法削弱了交叉性的批判性和变革性目标。最后，我概述了交叉性学术研究建模社会过程的重要未来方向，特别是需要交叉性地解决不平等的结构性决定因素。
无论研究是描述性的还是分析性的，与理论的接触对于保持交叉性的批判性和变革性至关重要。人口健康理论，如根本原因、社会生产和生态社会理论，应该以明确的交叉性术语来构建和应用。随着该领域朝着对社会过程的交叉性评估发展，应该关注所有生态层次，但特别是结构/制度层次。这种关注包括考虑交叉性社会阶层和背景之间的相互作用，以及考虑结构性歧视在塑造人口健康结果方面的作用。
