This book explores how intersectionality theory can be applied to social work practice with children and families, older people and mental health service users, and used to engage with diversity and difference in social work education and research. With case-study examples and practice questions throughout, the book provides a model for integrating intersectionality theory into social work practice. It highlights the ways intersectional theory helps us to understand the complexities of working with the interlocking nature of problematised elements such as gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, and other axes of structural inequalities experienced by groups in subjugated social locations. Intersectionality is used to examine multiple forms of inequalities and the complexities and questions they give rise to in social work practice. The emphasis throughout is that intersectional approaches can open up social work practice to new understandings of the complex linkages of multiple and intersecting systems of oppression that shape the lived experiences of diverse groups of service users. Providing an introduction to an intersectional theoretical framework for understanding the lives and experiences of socially disadvantaged service users, Intersectionality for Social Workers will be required reading on all modules on anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice, sociology, and ethics and values in social work.

This ground breaking book is an innovative, passionate and provocative exploration of intersectionality. The sustained emphasis on activism and practice reasserts the potency of intersectionality borne out of Black feminism. The rare and pioneering international reach of this book crosses four continents. In this book context matters: there is no intersectionality without context! Resting on the premise that we cannot work for the liberation of individuals, communities and societies without intersectionality, this book asks: How does intersectionality challenge the structures and discourses of social work education, management and organisation? What is the revolutionary potential of intersectionality? Intersectional in its method and content, the blend of practice, activism, research and theory troubles geopolitical and disciplinary boundaries. The range of topics include: Islamophobia, immigration, feminist movements, social work education, violence against women and girls, gender, sexuality, race, disability, age, religion, nationality, citizenship policy and legal frameworks. This book will appeal to activists for social justice, social work practitioners, researchers, lecturers, students and those working in the field of Black feminist thinking. The focus on the activism of intersectionality provides a clear pathway into Black feminist thinking and its application to social work internationally and to emancipatory collective political activism worldwide.

Drawing on intersectional theorising, Homelessness and Social Work highlights the diversities and complexities of homelessness and social work research, policy and practice. It invites social work students, practitioners, policy makers and academics to re-examine the subject by exploring how homelessness and social work are constituted through intersecting and unequal power relations. The causes of homelessness are frequently associated with individualist explanations, without examining the broader political and intersecting social inequalities that shape how social problems such as homelessness are constructed and responded to by social workers. In reflecting on factors such as Indigeneity, race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, sexuality, ability and other markers of identity the author seeks to: • construct a new intersectional framework for understanding social work and homelessness; • provide a critical analysis of social work responses to homelessness; • challenge how homelessness is represented in social work research, social policy and social work practice; and • incorporate the stories of people experiencing homelessness. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and higher research degree students in the fields of intersectionality, homelessness, sociology, public policy and social work.

First published in 1997, this book marks a culmination of a three year research programme focused upon the incidence of domestic violence in Leicester. The study examined the levels of violence, the details of applicants and respondents and the nature of complaints, as well as the policies applied and the problems faced by those enforcing the law. The books sets the findings in the context of the policies on protection of victims of domestic violence, the problems they face and protection after 1997. This book will be of interest to those studying law, social work, sociology and women’s studies.

A 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Intersectionality intervenes in the field of intersectionality studies: the integrative examination of the effects of racial, gendered, and class power on people's lives. While "intersectionality" circulates as a buzzword, Anna Carastathis joins other critical voices to urge a more careful reading. Challenging the narratives of arrival that surround it, Carastathis argues that intersectionality is a horizon, illuminating ways of thinking that have yet to be realized; consequently, calls to "go beyond" intersectionality are premature. A provisional interpretation of intersectionality can disorient habits of essentialism, categorial purity, and prototypicality and overcome dynamics of segregation and subordination in political movements. Through a close reading of critical race theorist Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw's germinal texts, published more than twenty-five years ago, Carastathis urges analytic clarity, contextual rigor, and a politicized, historicized understanding of this widely traveling concept. Intersectionality's roots in social justice movements and critical intellectual projects--specifically Black feminism--must be retraced and synthesized with a decolonial analysis so its radical potential to actualize coalitions can be enacted.

The concept of intersectionality has become a hot topic in academic and activist circles alike. But what exactly does it mean, and why has it emerged as such a vital lens through which to explore how social inequalities of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability and ethnicity shape one another? In this new book Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge provide a much-needed, introduction to the field of intersectional knowledge and praxis. They analyze the emergence, growth and contours of the concept and show how intersectional frameworks speak to topics as diverse as human rights, neoliberalism, identity politics, immigration, hip hop, global social protest, diversity, digital media, Black feminism in Brazil, violence and World Cup soccer. Accessibly written and drawing on a plethora of lively examples to illustrate its arguments, the book highlights intersectionality's potential for understanding inequality and bringing about social justice oriented change. Intersectionality will be an invaluable resource for anyone grappling with the main ideas, debates and new directions in this field.

A major publishing event, the collected writings of the groundbreaking scholar who "first coined intersectionality as a political framework" (Salon) For more than twenty years, scholars, activists, educators, and lawyers--inside and outside of the United States--have employed the concept of intersectionality both to describe problems of inequality and to fashion concrete solutions. In particular, as the Washington Post reported recently, "the term has been used by social activists as both a rallying cry for more expansive progressive movements and a chastisement for their limitations." Drawing on black feminist and critical legal theory, Kimberlé Crenshaw developed the concept of intersectionality, a term she coined to speak to the multiple social forces, social identities, and ideological instruments through which power and disadvantage are expressed and legitimized. In this comprehensive and accessible introduction to Crenshaw's work, readers will find key essays and articles that have defined the concept of intersectionality, collected together for the first time. The book includes a sweeping new introduction by Crenshaw as well as prefaces that contextualize each of the chapters. For anyone interested in movement politics and advocacy, or in racial justice and gender equity, On Intersectionality will be compulsory reading from one of the most brilliant theorists of our time.

In Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory Patricia Hill Collins offers a set of analytical tools for those wishing to develop intersectionality's capability to theorize social inequality in ways that would facilitate social change. While intersectionality helps shed light on contemporary social issues, Collins notes that it has yet to reach its full potential as a critical social theory. She contends that for intersectionality to fully realize its power, its practitioners must critically reflect on its assumptions, epistemologies, and methods. She places intersectionality in dialog with several theoretical traditions—from the Frankfurt school to black feminist thought—to sharpen its definition and foreground its singular critical purchase, thereby providing a capacious interrogation into intersectionality's potential to reshape the world.

Diversity, Oppression, and Change, Third Edition provides a culturally grounded approach to practice, policy, and research in social work and allied fields. The book's intersectionality perspective provides a lens through which students can identify connections between identities based on race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religion, and ability status. Through theoretical and empirical content as well as "Notes from the Field," students become familiar with the culturally grounded perspective and culturally appropriate ways of engaging with diverse communities. Marsiglia, Kulis, and Lechuga-Peña have crafted a book about hope and resiliency, the miraculous ability of individuals and communities to bounce back from oppressive experiences and historical trauma, and the role of social workers as allies in that journey.