Social categories do not represent individual characteristics, but are the result of social constructs. Sex/gender, for example, is a social category – rather than a biological one – because assumptions of difference between sexes/genders are constructed through social action. More about social categories here.

From an intersectional perspective, social categories are seen as intersecting or interwoven. This means that social categories cannot be analysed independently, but only in interaction with other social categories. Interwoven social categories form intersections and shape unique experiences of privilege or exclusion. This is clearly demonstrated in the example below of discrimination against Black women in the US automotive industry, who were exposed to a unique form of discrimination that was more than the sum of both sexist and racist discrimination.

An intersectional perspective can aim to make visible the diversity between and within gender groups with regard to further social categories intra-categorical approach. An intersectional perspective can also mean looking at combinations of social categories without focusing on one particular category inter-categorical approach. Ultimately, an intersectional perspective makes clear that only through the dissolution of categories can social hierarchies be prevented and unequal power relations dissolved anti-categorical approach.

Intersectionality is, furthermore, a reading of social phenomena and an interdisciplinary research stance that aims at social justice. In addition to making visible the interconnectedness of social categories, intersectionality encompasses a number of other principles. Among other things, an intersectional perspective foregrounds the researcher's dependence on social power structures and demands that researchers themselves question their position in these power structures before beginning an analysis of social inequality (reflexivity). A list of the key principles of the concept of intersectionality can be found below.

While it is possible that certain principles of intersectionality may be the focus in a project while others take a back seat, the concept of intersectionality itself does not set a hierarchy of different principles. To highlight the fact that the principles of intersectionality often experience different weighting in practice, we speak of intersectionality-informed and not intersectional research. In intersectionality-informed research, the weighting of the principles should be made transparent and the possible consequences of this emphasis for the interpretation of the results should be critically discussed. In this way, a dilution of the concept can be prevented.