Infusing the Study of Social Responsibilities with an Intersectional Approach

Social responsibilities are a central component of adolescents' and young adults' development, particularly for those from immigrant backgrounds. Social responsibility-a sense of responsibility and duty that extends beyond the self (Wray-Lake & Syvertsen, 2011) includes both family obligations (Fuligni, 2001; 2007) and community engagement (Jensen, 2008; Lerner et al., 2002). What is often missing, however, are the ways in which social identities and social inequality shape young adult's development of social responsibilities. An intersectional perspective (Crenshaw, 1989; Cole, 2009) is particularly well-suited to do so. Therefore, this manuscript discusses the ways in which an intersectional approach can augment studies of social responsibilities, highlights progress and challenges in the field, and outlines future directions. The majority of extant literature focuses on "single-axis" (Bowleg, 2008) static demographic features such as ethnic group differences in values of social responsibilities. An intersectional approach could more meaningfully attend to the ways in which ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, SES, and immigration status come together to shape experiences of social responsibilities. In addition, taking an intersectional approach can provide the tools necessary to understand how social inequality shapes opportunities and necessity for social responsibilities. Future directions for the field are discussed including design, methodological, and analytic choices in conducting future work.