Intersectional Solidarity: The Political Consequences of a Consciousness of Race, Gender and Sexuality

Abstract

This project examines the understudied, but important, phenomenon of intersectional group consciousness. Challenging a long tradition of studying racial consciousness independent of gender consciousness and vice versa, I argue that intersectional solidarity, which I define as awareness and distress over the oppression of disadvantaged subgroups, shapes public opinion among a subset of Americans. In Chapter 1, I begin by introducing the ways in which Black women and LGBTQ people of color have asserted themselves politically. I complicate this idea by considering instances in which people beyond Black women have metaphorically and literally “stood” with Black women. Chapter 2 lays the conceptual framework for the dissertation. I provide a review of the group consciousness literature, the theory of intersectionality as well as research in political science that has engaged with the theory of intersectionality. I build on these concepts to develop and define my theory of intersectional solidarity. In Chapter 3, I introduce a new measure of intersectional solidarity, the intersectional solidarity index (ISI), which is an 8-item index that assesses intersectional consciousness. Chapter 4 details the methods and data that I rely on to assess the validity of the intersectional solidarity index. After demonstrating the validity and reliability of the intersectional solidarity, I examine the demographic and attitudinal antecedents to intersectional solidarity, that is, who is most likely to exhibit this disposition. My final empirical chapter explores the influence of intersectional solidarity on policy consequences with a focus on policies that disproportionately affect disadvantaged subgroups like the racial disparity in maternal healthcare and the race/gender pay gap. Overall, the project contributes to our understanding of how multiple marginalized identities can simultaneously influence American politics. This dissertation informs our expectations with regard to both the barriers to but also the possibilities for support for policies that affect groups like Black women and LGBTQ people of color. In doing so, this project provides insight into the possibilities for intersectional politics.