intersectional map /graz08

The gendered structure of public spaces is strongly connected to the roles and duties of men and women in society, influenced by social categories like ethnicity and class.

The project intersectional map/graz08 makes the attempt to analyse this structure, based on the theoretical concept of “Intersectionality”, an analytical tool which reflects on categories like gender, ethnicity and class. “The intercategorical approach … begins with the observation that there are relationships of inequality among already constituted social groups, as imperfect and ever changing as they are, and takes those relationships as the center of analysis.”

>>Reserach - Origin

>>Research - Survey

>>Research - Sample Description

>> Reserach - Origin

“Intersectional places” are shaped by categories like gender, ethnicity and class, and it is assumed that their behaviour is characterised by attraction and rejection, forces of magnetic fields. Small forces of attraction or even exclusion is assumed where class distinctions may be transparent as city district frontiers or other spatial boundaries (big streets, river). Heterogeneity is take as a sign for intersectional attraction.

>> Research - Survey

A questionnaire survey in June 2008 concentrates on daily ways and places of around 1650 women and men in Graz. The stratified sampling in selected city districts focuses gender, ethnicity, class and age as sample variables.

On this way, relevant conclusion about the mobility of different populations should be possible. We are interested in questions like the following: Which public spaces and places are most frequented by women and men with migration background ? Or: Where are gendered spaces of women and men above 60 years ? ……….

On top of the questionnaire survey, face-to-face-interviews are carried out on different public places and institutions in town. People with migration background are mainly interviewed by people with migration background.

The social and spatial differentiation will be transparent at different times of the day.

>> Research - Sample Description

Disproportional stratified sampling: n = ca. 1650 people
Focus of the survey: daily ways and places, different times of the day (morning, afternoon)
Population: population of Graz, older than 14 years; selected city districts;
Sample variables: gender, ethnicity, class & age
Interview technique: face-to-face-interviews, questionnaire survey

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1 Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1998). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics. In: Phillips, Anne (Hg.): Feminism & Politics. New York, S. 314 – 343.
McCall, Leslie (2005). Managing the Complexity of Intersectionality. In: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Vol 30. No 3. 1771-1780.
Walgenbach, Katharina (2007). Gender als interdependente Kategorie. In: Walgenbach, Katharina / Dietze, Gabriele / Hornscheidt, Antja / Palm, Kerstin (Hg.): Gender als interdependente Kategorie. Neue Perspektiven auf Intersektionalität Diversität und Heterogenität. Opladen: Barbara Budrich

2 Bourdieu, Pierre (1982): Die feinen Unterschiede. Kritik der gesellschaftlichen Urteilskraft. Frankfurt. Suhrkamp.
Michael Vester, Peter von Oertzen, Heiko Geiling, Thomas Hermann und Dagmar Müller (2001). Soziale Milieus im gesellschaftlichen Strukturwandel. Frankfurt.