La société à l'épreuve des inégalités

Faced with the persistence of inequality and discrimination in contemporary societies against groups of individuals on the basis of certain characteristics (gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, social status), the question arises as to where this discrimination comes from, what forms it takes in democratic societies based in principle on equal rights, and how to uncover and combat it.

Considered as a dialogue between two scholars whose research is rooted in different cultural areas (France, USA), this book aims at answering those questions from different disciplines – political science, history, cultural studies - and at comparing interpretative paradigms that themselves stem from specific genealogies: the "universalism of differences" (Virginie Martin) on the one hand, and intersectionality on the other. By highlighting the contribution of these concepts to critical thinking on the historical, political and cultural-political construction of inequalities and the forms of discrimination and even exclusion they can generate, this dialogue recalls how these inequalities relate to mobilizations, struggles and claims for which feminist movements have been powerful relays, with notable advances in recent history, but also with strong and persistent resistance within contemporary societies.