Reflections on my engagement with QuantCrit: operating as a lens or corrective surgery?

Abstract

This reflection critiques shortcomings in conceptualization and theorization in prior studies undertaken by the author in which the lens of QuantCrit was applied. The reflection identifies two aspects of the conceptualization and theorization that were underdeveloped in this prior work. The first aspect focuses on the conceptualization of identity categories and the complexity of their formation and operations. The second aspect addresses the complexity of various theories of oppression and the resulting challenges this complexity presents when an identity category, such as race, is used as a proxy for oppression. The reflection highlights recent efforts that move beyond the use of socially constructed identity categories as a proxy for oppression and instead develop and apply measures of various mechanisms of structural racism. The reflection highlights the need for clarity in the theorization one applies to a study in which socially constructed identity categories are included as part of the analysis, the mechanisms of oppression that are theorized to influence outcomes of interest, and the alignment between the measures and modeling techniques and this theorization.