Confronting White privilege: the importance of intersectionality in the sociology of education

This article explores how White privilege and a hierarchy of oppression have resulted in competing identities in which gender has been given greater importance compared to race. I argue that the sociology of education needs to adopt an intersectional approach that travels in different directions if...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of sociology of education Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 807 - 816
Main Author Bhopal, Kalwant
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Routledge 17.08.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
African American Students
African American Teachers
African Americans
Black people
Discourses
Education
Educational sociology
Equal Education
equity
Ethnic groups
Ethnic identity
Ethnic Stereotypes
Ethnicity
Foreign Countries
Gender
Gender Bias
Higher Education
Intersectionality
Minority Groups
Oppression
Populism
Positioning
Race
Racial Bias
School Personnel
Social Bias
Social Justice
Social privilege
Sociology
Stereotypes
Students
White people
White privilege
Whites
United Kingdom
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Summary:This article explores how White privilege and a hierarchy of oppression have resulted in competing identities in which gender has been given greater importance compared to race. I argue that the sociology of education needs to adopt an intersectional approach that travels in different directions if it is to remain valid. The article examines how gender, perpetuated by White privilege, continues to play a key role in the positioning of Black and minority ethnic staff, students and pupils within a range of stereotypes that operate to marginalise their life trajectories. The article argues that if sociologists of education are unwilling to challenge White privileged populist discourses and their own positions of White privilege, then they will become complicit in maintaining a socially unjust status quo.
ISSN:0142-5692
1465-3346
DOI:10.1080/01425692.2020.1755224