positionality

English

Etymology

From positional +‎ -ity.

Noun

positionality (countable and uncountable, plural positionalities)

1. The quality of being positional.
2. (sociology) The social context one inhabits that shapes and defines a person's identity and perspective.
   • 2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 58:

     In the post-civil rights era, some white men have adopted a marginalized positionality in an effort to reclaim the tacit social privileges of being white, heterosexual and male.

   • 2023 August 14, Tyler Austin Harper, “I’m a Black Professor. You Don’t Need to Bring That Up.”, in The Atlantic‎:

     Many of my liberal friends and acquaintances now seem to believe that being a good person means constantly reminding Black people that you are aware of their Blackness. Difference, no longer to be politely ignored, is insisted upon at all times under the guise of acknowledging “positionality.”

Derived terms

• superpositionality