Patricia Hill Collins is credited with introducing the theory in her work entitled Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment.
Characteristics such as race, age, and sex, may intersectionally affect an individual in extremely different ways, in such simple cases as varying geography, socioeconomic status, or simply throughout time.
Other scholars such as Kimberlé Crenshaw's Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color are credited with expanding Collins' work.
[9] Collins notes how this shared social struggle can actually result in the formation of a group-based collective effort, citing how the high concentration of African-American women in the domestic labor sector in combination with racial segregation in housing and schooling contributed directly to the organization of the black feminist movement.
Moolman points out the main issue concerning matrix thinking is how one accounts for the power dynamics between varying identifying categories that are ingrained in both oppression and domination instead of the traditional approach, reducing experiences to a single identity.
The societal hierarchy determined by race and implemented under apartheid locates different racial populations in regards to their privilege, with African Americans usually at the bottom of the ladder.
Dhamoon argues that on a global scale, the spot occupied by African Americans in such context is interchangeable with indigenous populations, as marginalized peoples are systematically working both within and across a matrix of interrelated axes of "penalty and privilege".
The framework setup of the matrix of domination connects its origin theory and thought to existing struggles in the political and social spheres of society.
[12] May cites that an important implication that matrix thinking inspires is that it directly goes against what is often described as the socially inclusive ‘add and stir’ approach.
Though the specifics differ, the basic argument is the same: Black women are oppressed in a multitude of situations because people are unable to see how their identities intersect and influence each other.
[16] The matrix of domination looks at the overall organization of power in society while intersectionality is used to understand a specific social location of an identity using mutually constructing features of oppression.
[17] Ferlatte applied an IBPA framework and used structural interviews to identify barriers to the allocation of HIV prevention funding for gay men.
At the University of Arkansas, the curriculum for a Master of Social Work (MSW) is being amended to include the Multi-Systems Life Course (MSLC) approach.
[20] By teaching this approach to future social workers, the default recommendation for these women to file a police report is amended and an intervention rooted in the individual case can emerge.
[21] With this work has come greater recognition of the various effects that each identity holds in different societal contexts, in both the micro- and macro-level structures within the systems of oppression that exist.
[22] Bernard employs an intersectional approach to dissect the complexities that act as determinant factors in a woman's decision to partake in criminal activities, and more specifically, the limiting pressures of a patriarchal society.
[22] With this alternative framework, Bernard suggests that societal goals are not unanimous, and are instead shaped by individuals’ experiences in economic, political, and social spaces; for marginalized women, access to the means through which they build success are impacted by micro- and macro-level norms and histories that have created indicators of class (e.g. racial, economic, political, sexual) and subjugated them to limited networks.
[23] Deviating from the social control base that finds itself at the intersections of race, gender, and class among other differences helps to solidify who is categorized as the "Other".
In the context of criminality, the Matrix of Domination, may best present itself in the statistics: Currently the number of women imprisoned in the United States is more than one million, making them the fastest growing population in the prison industrial complex.
Several sociological studies on the welfare state take note of state-market relations while ignoring the salient roles held by other identities such as gender, race, class, language, and age, among others.
[26] Due to the nature of the welfare state, there has not been much regard for exploring the existence of multiple axes of oppression which has led to lineation of categories of race, class, and gender.
This further perpetuates gender discrimination because it means that firms who offer ESI (Employer Sponsored Insurance) will prefer to hire males.
Another effect of women generally having greater healthcare expenses than men is that they are likely to place a higher value on insurance and be more inclined to pass up jobs for insurance-related reasons.
This lowers the probability of obtaining jobs that pay higher wages directly and decrease a woman's bargaining power with her current employer.
The higher the socioeconomic status (SES) of an individual the more likely they are to graduate from high school and potentially obtain a college degree, which in return increases their chances of a larger salary.
[32] Statistics show that blacks make up 16% of public high school graduates, 14% of those enrolling in college, and only 9% of those receiving a bachelor's degree.
[35] Joane Acker discussed Inequality Regimes: Gender, Class, and Race in Organizations in Sociologists for Women in Society Feminists Lecture through studies conducted using Swedish Bank.
An article found in the November 1998 issue of Social Problems details the conflict involving racial domination by identifying the complexity African-Americans face.
Maivan Lam was not offered a job twice when she applied to be the Director of the Law School's Pacific Asian Legal Studies Program.
This comment was reported to the Dean, who said that he recognized that the professor had difficulty dealing with women but took no action to remove him from the committee or otherwise to remedy the problem.".