The list presents definions of terms prominent in Mapineq publications that lack definitions in literature.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is a theoretical and analytical framework that examines how multiple, socially stratified identities (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic status, migration status) intersect at the individual level and are embedded within interdependent systems of power (e.g., racism, sexism, classism). It emphasizes that inequalities are not simply additive but are produced through the dynamic interaction of these dimensions across time and context, shaping heterogeneous trajectories of exposure, risk, and opportunity over the life course.
Policy spillover effects
Spillover effects refer to unintended consequences or externalities, specifically, changes in one life domain leading to unforeseen changes in another domain.
Calling an effect a spillover effect requires that the impacts are unanticipated and unintended. This implies that finding such evidence should become less common if the multimodality of life courses is better understood and properly accounted for in research and policy design.
Analytically, spillover effects can be represented as the off-diagonal cells in a matrix where rows and columns correspond to defined life domains — the directionality of a spillover is determined by which domain introduces the change and which domain experiences its consequences.
For example, increasing education levels is expected to increase labour market productivity. However, research also suggests that increasing educational attainment has a causal positive effect on health — an outcome not typically targeted by the policies driving educational expansion.
The term “spillover” is surprisingly rarely used in research, despite its usefulness for researchers studying interdependencies across life domains. A potential reason is that, to spot such effects, researchers need multidomain data and expertise.
For further details, see D7.1 deliverable “State-of-the-art review of spillovers over the life course”.