Thinking through work: complex inequalities, constructions of difference and trans-national migrants

• Published in: Progress in human geography Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 491 - 507
• Main Author: McDowell, Linda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2008; Arnold; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Bgi / Prodig; Citizenship; Cultural identity; Culture; Difference; Employment; Ethnicity; Feminism; Gender; Geodemographics; Geography; Globalization; Human geography; Identity; Inequality; Intersectionality; Labor Market; Labour market; Market positioning; Market segmentation; Migrant workers; Migrants; Minority & ethnic groups; Population geography and social geography; Qualitative research; Research methodology; Sex; Social Class; Social classes; Social construction; Social geography; Social Inequality; Social sciences; Transnationalism; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; complexity; labour market segmentation; intersectionality; migration; categories; employment; subjectification; International migration; Employment; Labour market; Market segmentation; Gender; Society; Identity; Racism
• ISSN: 0309-1325; 1477-0288
• DOI: 10.1177/0309132507088116

This paper raises questions — rather than providing answers — about the theorization of intersectionality: the complex inequalities that result from connections between gender, class, ethnicity and other dimensions of identity in the making of subjects. I draw on Ong's work on cultural citizenship and notions of subjectification from Foucault and Butler to think through feminist theorizations of intersectionality and the philosophical status of different approaches to complexity and difference. I also address methodological issues. While this is not primarily an empirical paper, I use the example of the labour market position of recent migrants into the UK as an examplar of intersectionality at work.