Fragmentation (sociology)

In urban sociology, fragmentation refers to the absence or the underdevelopment of connections between the society and the groupings of some members of that society on the lines of a common culture, nationality, race, language, occupation, religion, income level, or other common interests. This gap between the concerned group and the rest might be social, indicating poor interrelationships among each other; economical based on structural inequalities; institutional in terms of formal and specific political, occupational, educative or associative organizations and/or geographic implying regional or residential concentration. bell hooks coined the term when addressing the problem of 'hierarchy of oppression' within the feminist movement; where some felt experiencing more types of oppression gave greater validity to one's opinion and, therefore undermined group strength and solidarity within the movement as much as non-interscectional identity did in the 1970s [where female identity was seen predominantly through the lens of white, middle-class women and didn't take into consideration that identity could be made up of many more cultural influences such as race, gender, sexuality, spirituality etc. all intersecting across points of privilege and oppression]. hooks argued for greater inclusivity, mutual support and an understanding of various types of feminism within the movement; each sharing the same equity goals, yet having different ideas on the methods to achieve such goals.^[1]

References