IB Philosophy 8.2.1 Treatment of Minority and Marginalized Groups in Society Key Definitions

Intersectionality is a framework developed by Kimberle Crenshaw showing that forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, and classism overlap and interact, producing distinct experiences of disadvantage that cannot be understood by examining each category in isolation.

Marginalization refers to the systematic exclusion or disadvantage of certain groups from full participation in the economic, political, and social life of their community, typically along lines of race, gender, class, or disability. The concept highlights how structural inequalities, rather than individual prejudice alone, can entrench disadvantage across generations, limiting access to education, employment, healthcare, and political representation.

Structural violence, a term coined by Johan Galtung, refers to systemic and institutionalised forms of harm embedded in social, economic, and political structures that prevent people from meeting their basic needs, even in the absence of direct physical aggression. Examples include poverty, discrimination, and unequal access to healthcare, all of which shorten lives and diminish human potential as effectively as overt violence.

Charles W. Mills's thesis of the racial contract argues that the social contract tradition conceals a prior agreement among white people to establish and maintain a system of racial domination, exploitation, and privilege, sustained through an epistemology of ignorance that systematically prevents recognition of racial injustice.