Intersectionality: Affirmative Action with Multidimensional Identities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Carvalho, Jean-Paul; Pradelski, Bary S. R.; Williams, Cole
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; Durham University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.03839
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Affirmative action; education; INEQUALITY; Underrepresentation; IDENTITY; Intersectionality

摘要

Studying the design of affirmative action policies when identities are multidimensional, we provide a formal demonstration of the importance of intersectionality. Prevailing affirmative action policies are based only on one identity dimension (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic class). We find that any such nonintersectional policy can almost never achieve a representative outcome. In fact, nonintersectional policies often increase the underrepresentation of underrepresented groups in a manner undetected by standard measures. Examples based on race and gender reveal significant hidden inequality arising from nonintersectional policies. We show how to construct intersectional policies that achieve proportional representation.