Addressing issues of diversity in physics higher education (PHE) in the United States is a priority for institutional, departmental, and individual policy and practice. These issues encompass a symptom--the inequitable distributions of diverse student populations in physics in comparison with those of higher education in the United States at large--and the underlying malady--the sociocultural and political constitution of physics as a field. The objective in this work is to emphasize to the physics education research (PER) community the vocabulary with which we can appropriately frame our sociological research on minoritized student success in PHE. By systematically invoking such a perspective in our research and in our practice, outcomes will be more equity-oriented and we will instill a shift in the culture surrounding PHE to be more student-centered rather than discipline-centered.