Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T03:21:38.724Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On Microaggressions: Cumulative Harm and Individual Responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Christina Friedlaender
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Microaggressions are a new moral category that refers to the subtle yet harmful forms of discriminatory behavior experienced by members of oppressed groups. Such behavior often results from implicit bias, leaving individual perpetrators unaware of the harm they have caused. Moreover, microaggressions are often dismissed on the grounds that they do not constitute a real or morally significant harm. My goal is therefore to explain why microaggressions are morally significant and argue that we are responsible for their harms. I offer a conceptual framework for microaggressions, exploring the central mechanisms used for identification and the empirical research concerning their harm. The cumulative harm of microaggressions presents a unique case for understanding disaggregation models for contributed harms, blame allocation, and individual responsibility within structural oppression. Our standard moral model for addressing cumulative harm is to hold all individual contributors blameworthy for their particular contributions. However, if we aim to hold people responsible for their unconscious microaggressions and address cumulative harm holistically, this model is inadequate. Drawing on Iris Marion Young's social connection model, I argue that we, as individual perpetrators of microaggressions, have a responsibility to respond to the cumulative harm to which we have individually contributed.

Type
Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , Winter 2018 , pp. 5 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, James. 1962/1993. The fire next time. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Bell, Lee Anne. 2002. Sincere fictions: The pedagogical challenges of preparing white teachers for multicultural classrooms. Equity and Excellence in Education 35 (1): 236–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black Lives Matter. 2016. About the Black Lives Matter network. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ (accessed September 9, 2016).Google Scholar
Brondolo, Elizabeth, Rieppi, Ricardo, Kelly, Kim P., and Gerin, William. 2003. Perceived racism and blood pressure: A review of the literature and conceptual and methodological critique. Annuals of Behavioral Medicine 25: 55–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calhoun, Cheshire. 1989. Responsibility and reproach. Ethics 99 (2): 389–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Bradley, and Manning, Jason. 2014. Microaggression and moral cultures. Comparative Sociology 13 (1): 692–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Rodney, Anderson, Norma B., Clark, Vanessa R., and Williams, David R. 1999. Racism as stressor for African Americans. American Psychologist 54 (1): 805–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cudd, Ann E. 2006. Analyzing oppression. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovidio, John F., and Gaertner, Samuel L. 2002. Aversive racism and selective decisions: 1989–1999. Psychology Science 11 (1): 315–19.Google Scholar
Fricker, Miranda. 2007. Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guzman, Fernando, Trevino, Jesus, Lubuguin, Fernand, and Aryan, Bushra. 2010. Microaggressions and the pipeline for scholars of color. In Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact, ed. Sue, Derald W.Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Haidt, Johnathan, and Lukianoff, Greg. 2015. The coddling of the American mind. The Atlantic, September.Google Scholar
Harvey, Jean. 1999. Civilized oppression. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Hinton, Eric L. 2004. Microinequalities: When small slights lead to huge problems in the workplace. Diversity Inc., March/April.Google Scholar
Hylton, Mary E. 2005. Heteronormativity and the experiences of lesbian and bisexual women as social work students. Journal of Social Work Education 41 (1): 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacs, Tracy. 2011. Moral responsibility in collective contexts. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Suah, and Kim, Rachel H. 2010. Microaggressions experienced by international students attending U.S. institutions of higher education. In Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact, ed. Sue, Derald W.Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Lawson, Bill E. 1992. Moral discourse and slavery. In Between slavery and freedom: Philosophy and American slavery, ed. McGary, Howard and Lawson, Bill E.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Lehrer, Adrienne. 1974. Semantic fields and lexical structure. London: North‐Holland.Google Scholar
Leland, John. 2008. In “sweetie” and “dear,” a hurt for the elderly. New York Times, October 6.Google Scholar
May, Larry. 1992. Sharing responsibility. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
May, Larry, and Strikwerda, Robert. 1994. Men in groups: Collective responsibility for rape. Hypatia 9 (2): 134–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Charles. 1997. The racial contract. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mills, Charles. 2007. White ignorance. In Race and epistemologies of ignorance, ed. Sullivan, Shannon and Tuana, Nancy. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Nadal, Kevin L. 2008. Preventing racial, ethnic, gender, sexual minority, disability, and religious microaggressions: Recommendations for promoting positive mental health. Prevention in Counseling Psychology: Theory, Research, Practice, and Training 2 (1): 22–27.Google Scholar
Nadal, Kevin L. 2011. The racial and ethnic microaggressions scale (REMS): Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Counseling Psychology 58 (4): 470–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadal, Kevin L., Issa, Marie‐Anne, Leon, Jayleen, Meterko, Vanessa, Widerman, Michelle, and Wong, Yinglee. 2011. Sexual orientation microaggressions: “Death by a thousand cuts” for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Journal for LGBT Youth 8 (1): 234–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadal, Kevin L., Rivera, David P., and Corpus, Melissa J. H. 2010. Sexual orientation and transgender microaggressions: Implications for mental health and counseling. In Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact, ed. Sue, Derald W.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Pierce, Chester. 1988. Stress in the workplace. In Black families in crisis: The middle class, ed. Coner‐Edwards, Alice F. and Spurlock, Jeanne. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Pierce, Chester, Carew, Jean, Pierce‐Gonzalez, Diane, and Wills, Deborah. 1978. An experiment in racism. In Television and education, ed. Pierce, Chester. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Purdie‐Vaughns, Valerie, Davis, Paul G., Steele, Claude M., and Ditlmann, Ruth. 2008. Social identity contingencies: How diversity cues signal threat or safety for African Americans in mainstream institutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 94 (1): 615–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sue, Derald Wing. 2003. Overcoming our racism: The journey to liberation. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sue, Derald Wing. 2010a. Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Sue, Derald Wing, ed. 2010b. Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Sue, Derald W., Lin, Annie I., and Rivera, David P. 2009. Racial microaggressions in the workplace: Manifestations and impact. In Diversity matters: Education and employment, ed. Chin, Jean L.Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Sue, Derald W., and Sue, David. 2008. Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Swim, Janet K., and Cohen, Laurie L. 1997. Overt, covert, and subtle sexism. Psychology of Women Quarterly 21 (1): 103–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Jennifer, Leu, Janxin, and Shoda, Yuichi. 2011. When the seemingly innocuous “stings”: Racial microaggressions and their emotional consequences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37 (12): 1666–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, Iris Marion. 2011. Responsibility for justice. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar