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Microaggression

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Microaggression is the idea that specific interactions between those of different races, cultures, or genders can be interpreted as mostly non-physical aggression. The term was first coined by American psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce[1]. Sue et al. (2007) describe microaggressions as, “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of other races.”[2]

Microagression usually involves demeaning implications and other subtle insults against minorities, and may be perpetrated against those due to gender, sexual orientation, and ability status.[3][4][5] According to Pierce, “the chief vehicle for proracist behaviors are microaggressions. These are subtle, stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal exchanges which are ‘put-downs’ of blacks by offenders”.[6] Microaggressions may also play a role in unfairness in the legal system as they can influence the decisions of juries.[7]

Contents

Types

Sue et al. (2007) have expanded on the term microaggression by introducing three distinct forms of microaggression in the context of racial microaggression.[5]:

Type Definition
Microassault An explicit racial derogation characterized primarily by verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through name calling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory actions.
Microinsult Characterized by communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person’s racial heritage or identity.
Microinvalidation Characterized by communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person.

Gender

Gender microassaults can be described as overt sexism: "being called a sexist name, a man refusing to wash dishes because it is 'woman's work,' displaying nude pin-ups of women at places of employment, men making unwanted sexual advances toward women."[8] Gender microinsults and microinvalidations can be less apparent.

Microaggressable themes have been identified through research and scholarly reviews (Sue, 2010):

Other forms of microaggression

Microaggressions can take a number of different forms,[9] for example, questioning the existence of racial-cultural issues, making stereotypic assumptions, and cultural insensitivity.[9][10] Some other types of microaggressions that have been identified[9] include Colorblindness (e.g., "I don't think of you as Black. You are just a normal person"), Denial of personal bias (e.g., "I'm not homophobic; I even have gay friends."), and Minimization of racial-cultural issues (e.g., "Just because you feel alone in this group doesn't mean that there's a racial issue involved."). "Colorblindness" in particular has been associated with higher levels of racism[11] and lower levels of empathy.[12]

Racial Microaggressions

The concept of racial microaggressions is one of the relative new contributions of Social Psychology to the understanding of factors that influence intergroup relations. Commonplace, public experiences or situations such as being stopped for a check-up at an airport, being ignored by a waiter/waitress at a restaurant or being assigned to a particular task by an employer, might seem irrelevant or innocuous situations under most circumstances. However, when such situations are interpreted as being linked to racial differences, they become distinct, and take on a different connotation. As a result, people subjected to them (racial minorities) may experience emotional pain or other negative feelings.[26]

Supporters of the theory argue that racial microaggressions are reported to be common,[13][14][15][16] including among people who think of themselves as being fair and nonracist,[17][18][19] and who have received multicultural training.[20]

According to P.C. Davis (1989), microaggression is enabled because “cognitive habit, history, and culture [has left it] unable to hear the range of relevant voices and grapple with what reasonably might be said in the voice of discrimination’s victims”.[21]

Experience

Recent studies show that a wide variety of people in the United States report experience with racial microaggressions, including Latino American,[22] African American,[23][24][25] and Asian American[26][27] people. Racial microaggressions are not limited by class or circumstance, and can even be experienced by professionals.[28] Focus group based research with African American students at universities has also revealed that racial microaggressions exist in both academic and social spaces in the collegiate environment.[4] College students report that they experience racial microaggressions in their relationships with their college counselors,[23] in classrooms,[29] and in other training relationships.[24]

People have expressed several ways in which they feel harmed by racial microaggressions, such as implied messages that may make them feel demeaned.[30] Implied messages can range from example like, “You do not belong,” “You are abnormal,” “You are intellectually inferior,” “You cannot be trusted,” and, “You are all the same.” Recipients of these messages have also reported feeling other negative consequences,[30] including powerlessness, invisibility, pressure to comply, loss of integrity, and pressure to represent one’s group.

Strategies

Some strategies have been identified to help in the difficult classroom discussions that are sometimes triggered by microaggressions.[22] For example, students report that they do not want to be looked to as experts on race-related topics, and that they feel hindered in discussions in which others are overly worried about being perceived as being racist.

Other subtle types of oppression include institutional oppression and subtle decision-making biases.

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Pierce, C. M., Carew, J. V., Pierce-Gonzalez & Wills, D. (1977). An Experiment in Racism: TV Commercials. Education and Urban Society, 10(1), 61–87.
  2. ^ Sue, Derald Wing; Capodilupo, Christina M.; Torino, Gina C.; Bucceri, Jennifer M.; Holder, Aisha M. B.; Nadal, Kevin L.; Esquilin, Marta. Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice. American Psychologist, v62 n4 p271-286 May-Jun 2007.
  3. ^ Pierce, Chester M; Carew, J; Pierce-Gonzalez, D; Willis, D (1978). "An experiment in racism: TV commercials". Television and Education. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. pp. 62–88. ISBN 0-8039-1028-2. 
  4. ^ a b Solorzano, D. (1998). "Critical Race Theory, Racial and Gender Microaggressions, and the Experiences of Chicana and Chicano Scholars." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 11, 121-136; Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate: The Experiences of African American College Students Daniel Solorzano, Miguel Ceja, Tara Yosso The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 69, No. 1/2, Knocking at Freedom's Door: Race, Equity, and Affirmative Action in U.S. Higher Education (Winter - Spring, 2000), pp. 60-73; Yosso, T., Ceja, M., Smith, W. & Solorzano, D. (2009). “Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate For Latina/o Undergraduates.” Harvard Educational Review, 79, 659-690.
  5. ^ a b Sue, DW; Capodilupo, CM; Torino; Bucceri, JM; Holder, AMB; Nadal, KL; Esquilin (2007), p. 274 
  6. ^ Pierce, C. M., Carew, J. V., Pierce-Gonzalez & Wills, D. (1977). An Expert in racism: TV commercials. Education and Urban Society, 10(1), 65
  7. ^ Law As Microaggression Peggy C. Davis The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 98, No. 8, Symposium: Popular Legal Culture (Jun., 1989), pp. 1559-1577
  8. ^ Wing, D.W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: race, gender, and sexual orientation. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc., p. 169.
  9. ^ a b c Constantine, M.G. (2007). Racial microaggressions against African American clients in cross-racial counseling relationships. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 54, 1-16.
  10. ^ Perceptions of Racial Microaggressions among Black Supervisees in Cross-Racial Dyads Constantine, Madonna G.; Sue, Derald Wing. Journal Counseling Psychology, v54 n2 p142-153 Apr 2007
  11. ^ Neville, H. A., Lilly, R. L., Duran, G., Lee, R. M., & Browne, L. (2000). Construction and initial validation of the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 59–70.
  12. ^ Burkard, A. W., & Knox, S. (2004). Effect of therapist color-blindness on empathy and attributions in cross-cultural counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 387–397.
  13. ^ Feagin, J. R., & Sikes, M. P. (1994). Living with racism: The Black middle-class experience. Boston: Beacon Press.
  14. ^ Sellers, R. M., & Shelton, J. N. (2003). The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1070–1092.
  15. ^ Swim, J. K., Cohen, L. L., & Hyers, L. L. (1998). Experiencing everyday prejudice and discrimination. In J. K. Swim & C. Stangor (Eds.), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 37–60). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  16. ^ Williams, D. R., Neighbors, H. W., & Jackson, J. S. (2003). Racial/ethnic discrimination and health: Findings from community studies. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 200–208.
  17. ^ Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (Eds.). (1986). Prejudice, discrimination, and racism. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  18. ^ Jones, J. M. (1997). Prejudice and racism (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: McGraw-Hill.
  19. ^ Whaley, A. (1998). Racism in the provision of mental health services: A social– cognitive analysis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 68, 47–57.
  20. ^ Gushue, G. V. (2004). Race, color-blind racial attitudes, and judgments about mental health: A shifting standards perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 398–407.
  21. ^ Davis, P. C. (1989). Law as microaggression. The Yale Law Journal, 98(8). 1576)
  22. ^ a b Sue, D., Lin, A.I., Torino, G.C. Capodilupo, C.M., & Rivera, D.P. (2009). Racial microaggressions and difficult dialogues on race in the classroom. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 15, 183-190.
  23. ^ a b Constantine, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions against African American clients in cross-racial counseling relationships. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 1-16.
  24. ^ a b Constantine, M., & Sue, D. (2007). Perceptions of racial microaggressions among black supervisees in cross-racial dyads. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54,142-153.
  25. ^ Constantine, M., Smith, L. Redington, R.M. & Owens, D. (2008). Racial microaggressions against black counseling and counseling psychology faculty: A central challenge in the multicultural counseling movement. Journal of Counseling and Development, 86, 348-355.
  26. ^ Sue, D., Bucceri, J., Lin, A.I., Nadal, K.L., & Torino, G.C. (2009). Racial microaggressions and the Asian American Experience. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 1, 88-101.
  27. ^ Wang, J., Leu, J., & Shoda, Y. (2011). When the seemingly innocuous "stings": Racial microaggressions and their emotional consequences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(12), 1666-1678.
  28. ^ Constantine, M., Smith, L. Redington, R.M. & Owens, D. (2008). Racial microaggressions against black counseling and counseling psychology faculty: A central challenge in the multicultural counseling movement. Journal of Counseling and Development, 86, 348-35 5.
  29. ^ Sue, D., Lin, A.I., Torino, G.C. Capodilupo, C.M., & Rivera, D.P. (2008). Racial microaggressions and difficult dialogues on race in the classroom. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 15, 183-190.
  30. ^ a b Sue, D., Capodilupo, C.M., & Holder, A.M.B. (2008). Racial microaggressions in the life experience of black Americans. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, 329-336.

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