Jo Armstrong

Intersectionality: Multiple Inequalities in Social Theory

The concept of intersectionality is reviewed and further developed for more effective use. Six dilemmas in the debates on the concept are disentangled, addressed and resolved: the distinction between structural and political intersectionality; the tension between ‘categories’ and ‘inequalities’; the significance of class; the balance between a fluidity and stability; the varyingly competitive, cooperative, hierarchical and hegemonic relations between inequalities and between projects; and the conundrum of ‘visibility’ in the tension between the ‘mutual shaping’ and the ‘mutual constitution’ of inequalities. The analysis draws on critical realism and on complexity theory in order to find answers to the dilemmas in intersectionality theory.

Measuring equalities: data and indicators in Britain

Measuring equalities is important but contentious and challenging; matters of definition, technical details and data availability, not least the selection of appropriate measures, are complex. Yet the measuring of equalities is needed to address the needs of researchers as well as to aid policy development such as by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). This paper discusses the issues involved in monitoring equalities across the full range of justicable strands (gender, ethnicity, disability, religion/belief, age and sexual orientation together with social class) in the 10 domains of the EHRC Equality Measurement Framework (longevity; physical security; health; education; standard of living; productive and valued activities; individual, family and social life; participation, influence and voice; identity, expression and self‐respect; and legal security). The paper concludes by offering headline indicators for each of the 10 dimensions that are relevant to the full range of equalities.

Beyond 'Juggling' and 'Flexibility': Classed and Gendered Experiences of Combining Employment and Motherhood

This paper proposes that there is a need to push beyond the popular discourses of ‘flexibility’ and ‘work-life balance’. Developing a feminist-Bourdieuian approach and drawing on three illustrative case studies from my interview research with 27 mothers in the UK, I show the importance of maintaining a focus on class and gender inequalities. In the first part of the paper the concepts of capitals, dependencies and habitus which shaped, and were shaped by, this interview research are discussed. An analysis of three womens accounts of their experiences across work and family life is then used to illustrate that although these women all used terms such as ‘flexibility’ and ‘juggling’ in describing their work, the experience of that work was crucially influenced by their histories and current positioning. Tracing each of these womens trajectories from school, attention is focused on the influence of differential access to capitals and relations of dependency in the emergence of their dispositions toward work. Overall, the paper points to the significance of examining the classed and gendered dimensions of womens experiences of employment and motherhood.

Health social movements and the hybridisation of ‘cause regimes’: an ethnography of a British childbirth organisation

Abstract This article reports on an ethnographic study of the UK’s largest health advocacy organisation dedicated to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, the National Childbirth Trust or NCT. Working from interview data, textual materials and fieldnotes, we articulate three key phases in the NCT’s historically shifting relationships to feminism, medicine, the state and neoliberal capitalism. The concept of folded cause regimes is introduced as we examine how these phases represent the hybridisation of the organisation’s original cause. We argue that for the NCT the resulting multiplicity of cause regimes poses significant challenges, but also future opportunities. The apparent contradictions between cause regimes offer important insights into contemporary debates in the sociology of health and illness and raises critical questions about the hybrid state of health advocacy today. Focussing on cause allows for a deeper understanding of the intense pressures of diversification, marketisation and the professionalisation of dissent faced by third-sector organisations under current social and economic conditions.

Developing Key Indicators of ‘Fairness’ : Competing Frameworks, Multiple Strands and Ten Domains – an Array of Statistics

This article argues that it is possible to develop key indicators to assess the broad agenda of ‘fairness’, even in the context of competing frameworks (e.g. equality, capabilities), multiple equality strands (gender, race/ethnicity, disability, age, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender identity and social class) and several domains (e.g. health, education). Indicators are required to summarise complex statistical information to make it accessible to a wide audience. Methods for selecting indicators are discussed: identifying overlaps in frameworks, finding commonalities and applying quality criteria. Synthesising in this way enables identification of ‘key indicators’ of equality, including: intimate partner violence, risk of poverty and pay gaps.