Hate Speech on Social Media: The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Class. State-of-the-art

Abstract

This PRISMA systematic review of 49 studies analyzes recent scientific production (2017-2025) to account for approaches to the intersectional nature of hate speech on social media, where gender, race, and socioeconomic class intertwine, producing experiences of digital discrimination. The objective was to identify the predominant theoretical and methodological frameworks and evaluate their capacity to capture this complexity. We employed a mixed-methods approach that integrated bibliometric analysis (using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer) and critical content analysis of the literature indexed in Scopus, following the PRISMA criteria. The field shows exponential growth since 2021, with production concentrated in Spain (44.9% of the corpus) and a core of specialized journals. Mixed-methods approaches predominate, combining computational techniques (NLP, machine learning) with critical discourse analysis. While we identified psychosocial (Integrated Threat Theory) and critical (Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory) frameworks, the analysis reveals a lack of perspectives such as platform governmentality and affective economies. The social class dimension remains understudied compared to gender and race. We conclude that research must adopt more robust frameworks and integrated methodologies that simultaneously capture computational scale, the structural depth of intersectional oppressions, the affective dimension, and algorithmic governance to develop interventions that address the roots of intersectional hate in contemporary digital ecosystems.