For over a decade, the concept of intersectionality has garnered greater attention in the broader public, yet it has also been appropriated, repackaged, and commodified in ways that simultaneously decenter and erase the original purpose, formulation, and application of this theoretical approach. Namely, intersectionality was developed to explain and examine how multiple axes of marginalization influence socioeconomic and political experiences of Black women and the outcomes they face. In Intersectional Solidarity: Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness, Chaya Y. Crowder identifies how “intersectionality has taken on a purpose that extends beyond its original intention” (p. 14), and she successfully encourages readers to return to the original concepts and theorization concerning intersectionality. By recentering the effects of multiple marginalities, Crowder lays the groundwork for understanding solidarity and group consciousness through an intersectional perspective.
Crowder establishes an intersectional solidarity framework that provides greater insight into how, when, and why people recognize and acknowledge the existence of the unique experiences of those who are marginalized along multiple axes of subordination. In particular, she highlights and measures (1) awareness of and (2) distress concerning intersectional marginalization, as well as examines how intersectional solidarity influences political action, policy preferences, and support for social movements. Further, Crowder demonstrates that intersectional solidarity is distinct from concepts such as empathy, racial sympathy, altruism, and linked fate. Therefore, it is imperative to incorporate the concept of intersectional solidarity when examining the link between identities and politics.
The introductory chapter highlights the decades-long tradition of relying upon Black women for political support and merely “thanking” them, while not backing policies that would actually improve the lives of this group. Crowder compellingly elucidates the need to investigate the degree to which people actually recognize, acknowledge, and are concerned about the unique socioeconomic and political barriers that Black women experience in the US context. The second chapter, in turn, sets forward the theoretical framework for the book through an in-depth examination of the relevant literature on group consciousness, including both unidimensional and intersectional approaches. Crowder highlights the strengths and limitations of this previous work before offering her own unique Intersectional Solidarity Index (ISI) as a new means for operationalizing intersectional group consciousness and solidarity. The ISI is a four-item index designed to measure the degree to which respondents acknowledge multiple forms of marginalization, particularly in the context of race, gender, and sexuality. This is a significant continuation of and contribution to the field of intersectionality research in political science, and it augments our understanding of precisely how to deploy an intersectional approach in quantitative inquiry.
In Chapter 3, Crowder examines the factors that contribute to whether people hold a sense of in-group and out-group intersectional solidarity. In particular, she introduces the 2019 Intersectional Politics Study, which is a nationally representative stratified sample survey that includes nearly 2,500 respondents and an oversampling of Black women, Black men, and LGB-identified respondents. This chapter establishes the internal reliability of the items for Crowder’s intersectional consciousness index and then examines the sources that lead to the development of intersectional solidarity. Here, the book analyzes the degree to which racial and gender identity, feminist identity, sexuality-based identity, and experiences with discrimination, among other factors, influence the levels of intersectional solidarity expressed by respondents.
Chapter 4 brings the reader back to the issue of empty words of appreciation for Black women’s political engagement as opposed to supporting identifiable, actionable policy that would directly benefit this group. By comparing policies that are broadly viewed as intersectional in nature (such as Black maternal health/mortality and Black women’s wage gap) with seemingly unidimensional policies (e.g., workplace support for breastfeeding), Crowder investigates the degree to which intersectional solidarity plays a role in policy preferences. A central aspect of this work parses out how external/out-group intersectional solidarity operates in the context of policy preferences. The book observes that White men are the most likely to show increased support for intersectional policy when they express higher levels of intersectional solidarity. Crowder notes that this finding is most likely due to the general lower levels of support for intersectional policies among White men as a whole, thus leading to a marked increase in support for these policies when they express awareness of and distress concerning intersectional systemic inequities.
The following chapter delves into the connections between intersectional solidarity and respondents’ views on protest, social movements, and intersectional political representation. Using the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, Crowder examines the degree to which intersectional solidarity is connected to perceptions of various sociopolitical advocacy issues. For example, regardless of an individual’s identity markers, higher levels of intersectional solidarity are positively correlated with feelings of warmth toward Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, while there is an inverse relationship between intersectional solidarity and advocacy for gun rights. These findings further demonstrate that it is not merely intersectional identity that influences perceptions of protests and social movements, but also that the extent to which people across various identity groups possess intersectional solidarity significantly influences how they see social movements. Additionally, this chapter engages with whether and how expressions of intersectional solidarity are linked with whether respondents believe that Black women running for office will represent their interests.
The concluding chapter highlights the most significant takeaways for this meaningful research project and provides a glimpse into the broader implications of this research for the advancement of academic inquiry within our field. Importantly, Crowder notes that “solidarity does not require sameness, but it does require a sense of shared interest” (p. 118). Consequently, the author’s ISI provides a measurement that can help researchers to better identify “the types of people who care about intersectional marginalization” (p. 120). Crowder’s contributions and findings set forward a strong foundation for developing a more nuanced understanding of how intersectional solidarity influences public opinion, policy preferences, support for social movements, and descriptive representation. On the whole, the direct consideration and acknowledgment of the multifaceted oppression of disadvantaged groups is tied to greater support for policies that will positively influence groups that face multiple forms of marginalization. Additionally, Crowder does an excellent job of highlighting areas of study that can and should branch off from her work. Rather than attempting to overstate the reach of the measures developed for the project, the book encourages us all to engage more directly in research to better understand how multiple marginalized identities play a role in constructing group consciousness and politics. Crowder deals with the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality incredibly effectively and invites current and future researchers to continue extending this work, particularly in the areas of class, nativity, immigration status, and disability.
The book engages in detailed theory-building specific to the intersectional nature of identity and reveals how the sociopolitical realities specific to multiple marginalities can influence internal and external group consciousness (and consequently political behavior). It further engages in methodological critique and considers operationalization, followed by hypothesis testing across two distinct datasets, with relevant application in the context of real-world political behavior and policy preferences. Of particular importance, Crowder organized and composed the book in a straightforward, approachable, and accessible manner, making this an excellent text for undergraduate students, as it demonstrates how concepts specific to political science are directly connected to relevant current events.
Crowder simultaneously highlights the significant contributions of her work while also demonstrating areas in which her theoretical framework building will be important for future inquiry. For example, an area for further exploration that Crowder’s work raises implicitly is the decreased intersectional solidarity observed among Black populations when considering sexuality. Various forms of religious and cultural messaging, along with willful ignorance of how marginalized populations often further subjugate individuals within their own groups, may all be at play here, and Crowder’s work provides important methodological building blocks for exploring these topics. Future work employing Crowder’s ISI will be able to elucidate how and why intragroup isolation and marginalization occur.
Another area of inquiry that is a natural offshoot of this book project—and which would benefit immensely from Crowder’s approach—is an examination of how society views and reacts to Black women and their policy positions. Exploring how people perceive both Black women and the policies that benefit them might demonstrate how and why Black women’s policy preferences are often ignored, a phenomenon that amplifies the need for intersectional solidarity. The sociopolitical cycles and experiences that drive Black women’s political orientations, perceptions, and behavior can also provide a fuller picture regarding their sense of group consciousness, as well as how and why levels of intersectional solidarity with outgroups may ebb and flow over time.
Intersectional Solidarity: Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness provides a much-needed and multifaceted examination of identity, group consciousness, and politics, which fits snugly into the extant literature on the study of intersectionality and politics. In fact, this book provides an immeasurable contribution to intersectional theorization and methodology, pushing the discipline to continue exploring the realities and experiences of marginalized populations. Crowder honors and extends the strong tradition of intersectionality work across many disciplines; she encourages the reader, through her example, to embrace and investigate nuance, especially in areas that have rarely been considered important to the discipline owing to the erasure and marginalization of Black women in particular.
