Intersectional contributions to critical race theory concerning health inequality

Racial discrimination in the healthcare system of the United States is the product of the long nineteen century and present discriminatory institutional practices are indebted to the existing racially stratified society and its mechanisms. The intention of critical race theorists is to shed light on the historical embeddedness of racism, and by retaining the category of race as a cultural construct; they locate and challenge racial discrimination. Perhaps one of the main benefits of critical race theory is its history orientation, researchers are capable of pointing out the discursively produced nature of racism, however, it has a single category focus, and thus, intersectional theory can prove to be a positive tool that is sufficiently sensitive to address discrimination resulting from multiple sources of oppression. In this paper, some of the healthcare related benefits of the combination of these approaches will be discussed.