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The Intersection of Race and Gender: An Examination of Black Feminist Consciousness, Race Consciousness, and Policy Attitudes *
Author(s) -
Simien Evelyn M.,
Clawson Rosalee A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00245.x
Subject(s) - consciousness , race (biology) , gender studies , sociology , intersection (aeronautics) , politics , psychology , political science , law , geography , cartography , neuroscience
Objective. In this article, we investigate black feminist consciousness, its relationship to race consciousness, and its impact on policy attitudes. Unlike scholars and activists who argue that black feminist consciousness detracts from race consciousness, we argue that the two go hand in hand. Methods. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we examine public opinion survey data from the 1993 National Black Politics Study. Results. We find that both black women and men have fairly high levels of support for black feminist ideals. Also, we provide evidence that black feminist consciousness is positively related to the components of race consciousness and demonstrate the influence of black feminist consciousness on support for abortion rights. Conclusions. Our research is important because it uses a measure of black feminist consciousness true to its theoretical origins.