ABSTRACT
The concept and theory of intersectionality, pioneered by black feminist thinkers, has been an important perspective for the study of racism, indicating the compounding nature of different dimensions of social division including race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality. This approach to studying racism and the particular insights of intersectionality are discussed. The insights of intersectionality are also discussed in relation to a series of theoretical attempts to explain and theorise the institutional, structural and systemic nature of racism. Beginning with the classic account of institutional racism by Carmichael and Hamilton in Black Power, the chapter examines structural racism (Bonilla-Silva), racial formation (Omi and Winant), systemic racism and the white racial frame (Feagin), and everyday racism (Essed), which links the micro and macro experiences of racism.
