Analysing Intersectionality in the Implementation of Social Policies

Some methodological approaches are relevant for researches on gender and politics. For example, frame analysis (Verloo et Lombardo, 2007) or the What’s represented to be method developed by Carol Bacchi give effective tools to analyse the problematizations occurring in the formulation of social policies. The intersectional perspective is also pertinent because it aims to take into account the complexity of social categories and to explain the processes of categorization. Some researches (van der Haar et Mieke, 2013) applied these two approaches to shed light on the effects of some policies on marginalized categories. In this communication, I will show how these methods can be applied to analyse not only the formulation of social policies but also their implementation (Steinmetz, 2014). Drawing from a fieldwork of 77 qualitative interviews conducted with 74 social workers between 2011 and 2014, I will shed light on problematizations produced by street-level bureaucrats. In my doctoral project, I asked them to describe their intervention toward welfare’s recipients and collected 235 social stories of problematic dependency. The diversity of these situations enables to understand processes of differentiation and naturalization produced by the complex imbrications of gender, ethnicity and age. References Steinmetz, G. (2014). État-mort, État-fort, État-empire. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 1(201-202), 112-119. doi: 10.3917/arss.201.0112 van der Haar, M. et Mieke, V. (2013). Unpacking the Russian doll: gendered and intersectionalized categories in European gender equality policies. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 1(3), 417-432. Verloo, M. et Lombardo, E. (2007). Contested gender equality and policy variety in Europe: Introducing a critical frame analysis approach. Dans M. V. a. E. Lombardo (dir.), Multiple meanings of gender equality. A critical frame analysis of gender policies in Europe (p. 21-49).