Overlapping Inequalities in the Welfare State. An Introduction

Abstract

Since the 1980s, intersectionality has received significant recognition as a feminist framework with its theoretical, methodological, and political elements, offering a vigorous understanding of social inequalities that are multifaceted and overlapping in nature. By drawing upon the vast body of feminist literature and adopting a critical and process-focused approach to intersectionality, this edited book explores how the conceptual frame of intersectionality contributes to the analysis of the complex and interconnected inequalities within the welfare state, examining them on macro, meso and micro-levels, including institutions and everyday social practices. By emphasizing the recognition of selective factors of inequalities across diverse institutional domains, organizational settings, and society at large, the volume seeks to expose how multiple forms of inequalities persistently endure within the multilayered institutional boundaries, policies, and practices of modern welfare states. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024, corrected publication 2024.