UDC

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Authors

Pospelova Olga Vyacheslavovna
Institute of Social, Humanitarian and Political Sciences, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russia)

Abstract

The paper is devoted to philosophical and methodological issues in contemporary social and political theory. The author turns to intersectionality, which has not yet become a widespread approach in the Russian academic community. This approach helps us recognize and comprehend the phenomenon of multiple and intersecting discrimination. The primary focus is on three stratification categories: “race”, “class” and “gender” as well as on their intellectual history and importance for contemporary social and political studies. Articulation of these categories requires a revision of traditional definitions of “politics” and “political” as well as a more detailed analysis of social, political and economic institutions. The paper outlines the problems that social sciences are faced with when trying to respond to challenges of contemporary democracy. Discriminatory practices have been adapted for human rights rhetoric and built into the mechanisms of liberal democracy, thus becoming subtle and even invisible for researchers working in the frame of theoretical mainstream of their disciplines. New methodologies are required due to the fact that forms and mechanisms of discrimination are historically changeable. Consequently, a critical theory claiming to be adequate should constantly develop new analytical instruments and theoretical options.

Keywords

intersectionality, race, class, gender, democracy, discrimination, world-systems analysis

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