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Infusing the Study of Social Responsibilities with an Intersectional Approach
Author(s) -
Katsiaficas Dalal
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20249
Subject(s) - intersectionality , sociology , sexual orientation , ethnic group , field (mathematics) , perspective (graphical) , social responsibility , structural inequality , gender studies , social inequality , social psychology , public relations , inequality , psychology , political science , mathematical analysis , mathematics , artificial intelligence , anthropology , computer science , pure mathematics
Social responsibilities are a central component of adolescents’ and young adults’ development, particularly for those from immigrant backgrounds. Social responsibility—a sense of responsibility and duty that extends beyond the self (Wray‐Lake & Syvertsen, 2011) includes both family obligations (Fuligni, 2001; 2007) and community engagement (Jensen, 2008; Lerner et al., 2002). What is often missing, however, are the ways in which social identities and social inequality shape young adult's development of social responsibilities. An intersectional perspective (Crenshaw, 1989; Cole, 2009) is particularly well‐suited to do so. Therefore, this manuscript discusses the ways in which an intersectional approach can augment studies of social responsibilities, highlights progress and challenges in the field, and outlines future directions. The majority of extant literature focuses on “single‐axis” (Bowleg, 2008) static demographic features such as ethnic group differences in values of social responsibilities. An intersectional approach could more meaningfully attend to the ways in which ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, SES, and immigration status come together to shape experiences of social responsibilities. In addition, taking an intersectional approach can provide the tools necessary to understand how social inequality shapes opportunities and necessity for social responsibilities. Future directions for the field are discussed including design, methodological, and analytic choices in conducting future work.