Education systems and intersectionality

The contribution of intersectionality to quantitative research into educational inequalities

“…Therefore, to our knowledge there is no review covering intersectional inequalities in education from a quantitative perspective [although see Gross et al. () for an overview of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches]. The aim of this article is to show that there is in fact a close fit between the concept of intersectionality and certain quantitative research techniques and to advocate for a wider, more explicit use of this concept in quantitative educational research.…”

“…McCall () summarises the different uses of intersectionality in social science: to deconstruct social categories such as gender, ethnicity and class (termed ‘anti‐categorical complexity’); to analyse differences and similarities within social categories (‘intra‐categorical complexity’) or to focus on multiple, intersecting inequalities between social categories (‘inter‐categorical complexity’). All three variants have been deployed to address the issue of educational inequality (Gross et al., ). Studies discussed in the present article mainly use the ‘inter‐categorical complexity’ approach, since this is the most obviously applicable to quantitative methods (Gross et al., ).…”

“…All three variants have been deployed to address the issue of educational inequality (Gross et al., ). Studies discussed in the present article mainly use the ‘inter‐categorical complexity’ approach, since this is the most obviously applicable to quantitative methods (Gross et al., ). However, we will go on to argue that ‘intra‐categorical complexity’ can also be addressed to some extent using quantitative methods.…”

“…Gross et al. () suggest that this is because qualitative research is better suited to analysing complexity and the everyday experience of inequalities. Other authors have suggested that, because of its focus on assigning individuals to pre‐defined categories, quantitative research is incompatible with an intersectional perspective (Spierings, ).…”

“…However, situating intersectional inequalities in their institutional context could help to explain how and why they occur. Part of the definition of intersectionality is that inequalities are contextually specific (Crenshaw, , ; Browne & Misra, ; Gross et al., ). The characteristics and practices of schools and universities, such as programme structure and the tracking of students into different educational pathways based on their abilities or interests, shape young people's routes through the education system (Charles & Bradley, ; Kutnick et al., ; Frenzel et al., ; Mann & DiPrete, ).…”