What Role Should Microaggressions Play in Discussions About Discrimination?
01/16/2025
Examining Microaggressions as a Form of DEI
A psychological concept that has become a part of the discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is microaggressions. The term gained widespread appeal only twelve years ago, but by 2015 it had been crowned the word of the year by the Global Language Monitor. It is now rife on college campuses and part of the workplace discussions about forms of discrimination. However, recently there has been pushback on the concept, with some complaining that it has no scientific basis and may be used to inflate the importance of insults and other forms of rude behavior against a marginalized group.
Generally speaking, microaggressions are defined as everyday indignities, conveyed intentionally or unintentionally by words, acts or environments, which communicate hostile and derogatory messages to people from disadvantaged groups. Microaggressive acts may be fleeting, ambiguous and easily overlooked, but they can have detrimental effects on their targets.
Defining the Concept
Someone commenting on how well an Asian American speaks English, which presumes the Asian American was not born here, is one example of mkicroaggression. Presuming that a Black person is dangerous or violent is another example.
Microaggressions come in different forms. Microinsults are subtle snubs or displays of insensitivity. Microassaults are verbal or nonverbal expressions of derogation or avoidance. Microvalidations negate the experience of disadvantaged groups.
Microaggressions can be defined as the everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups. The difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination is that people who commit microaggressions might not even be aware of them. Recently, the idea of belonging as part of a group or environment has been added to DEI and has become DEIB.
While often described as small or minor, microaggressions can have a large cumulative negative impact on individuals over time, resulting in feelings of exclusion, marginalization and isolation negatively impacting a person’s well-being, self-esteem, and sense of belonging. They contribute to a larger pattern of systemic discrimination and oppression. Systemic discrimination refers to the ways in which social, political, and economic systems perpetuate unequal treatment and disadvantage certain groups of
Microaggressions in Education
In the classroom, psychologist Derald Wing Sue suggests that faculty be held responsible for incorporating diversity and discussions on race, gender, sexual orientation into their curriculum. She believes that addressing microaggressions at the university level requires training of students, faculty and all administrative staff. In other words, faculty need to be cognizant of the harm their own biases cause their students.
Microaggressions in the Workplace
Workplace microaggressions are subtle behaviors that affect members of marginalized groups but can add up and create even greater conflicts over time.
Types of workplace microaggressions:
- Behavioral – communicating a message with actions or symbols that display insensitivity to identity stereotypes.
- Environmental – lack of representation and diversity, including gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
- Verbal – saying something that may not outright appear to be but is disrespectful or offensive to a marginalized group.
Categories of workplace microaggressions include those that appear as overt discrimination, predjudicial behavior, abuse or harassment. In many cases, aggression can be difficult to pinpoint and resolve because it is not so outright and obvious, or even malicious. And in some cases, the microaggressions are an unconscious behavior from the perpetrator.
How Prevalent Are Microaggressions?
According to a survey, microaggressions are more widespread than you may think. More than a quarter of Americans (26%) have definitely experienced a microaggression at work, and another 22% are unsure. Thirty-six percent have witnessed one (with another 24% unsure).
With only 40% of workers confident that they’ve never seen a microaggression, there’s a huge population that’s potentially affected—which could also mean bad business.
Seven in ten workers would be upset by one of these disrespectful interactions, and among those who were, half said the action would make them consider leaving their job. Some estimate that losing a skilled employee costs a company roughly 33% of their annual salary—a high price to pay for some thoughtless words.
Criticisms of the Concept of Microaggressions
Some have criticized how and when the concept of microaggression is used. For example:
- Microaggression research does a poor job distinguishing between offensive or annoying behaviors that are and are not racially motivated.
- Some of the research extolled by advocates as testifying to the power of microaggressions arguably shows the opposite.
- Research guaranteed to overstate microaggression frequency has been misinterpreted as demonstrating frequent experiences of microaggressions.
What makes some sort of bad treatment a microaggression versus just another form of people treating each other badly sometimes? Racism (or some other form of bigotry). The treatment needs to be motivated by, express, and reinforce racism or some other form of social bias. Long waits for bad burgers could be a microaggression—if, say, the burger joint made people of color wait longer to order. But if everyone has a long wait for bad overpriced burgers, there is no racism involved, so no microaggression.
But how can one tell whether any particular insult or mean-spirited act or statement is a microaggression or just a person acting badly that has nothing to do with race (or any other identity? Sue suggests that microaggressions are “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 color.” Did they literally mean “daily,” or is it just a figure of speech? She states that: “minorities don’t “just occasionally experience racial microaggressions.” Rather, “they are a constant, continuing, and cumulative experience” in their lives. They are, per this definition, disturbingly common racial slights.
To add credence to the discussion of microaggressions and center the concept better in our daily lives, the following should be done:
- Establish that an insult/slight is motivated by racism.
- Identify stereotypes that the insult/slight reinforces.
- Empirically establish the “pathology” of the stereotype.
- Show that the microaggression actually strengthens those particular pathological stereotypes.
- Identify relevant inequitable social norms.
- Show that the microaggression reinforces those norms.
Lilienfeld’s Critique
A recent article offers the most serious and sustained critique of the microaggression concept to date. Its author, Emory University psychologist Scott Lilienfeld, casts a critical eye over the concept and the evidence on which it rests. He recommends abandoning the term “microaggression” and placing a moratorium on training programs that aim to eradicate it.
Lilienfeld’s criticisms question how microaggressions are defined and assessed. He observes that the concept’s meaning is nebulous, to the point that there is no agreed understanding of what it includes and excludes. Any manner of experiences could in principle find shelter under its broad umbrella.
Aside from these definitional problems, the existing program of research on microaggressions lacks a reliable method of assessing when they have taken place. It also provides no evidence they typically reflect the perpetrator’s underlying prejudice or hostility. In addition, proponents of the idea of microaggressions place too much confidence in the subjective perception of the supposed target.
It is also the sort of judgement that is subject to known biases. People with particular identities, ideological commitments and personality traits are more likely than others to identify an ambiguous event as an instance of prejudice. Some studies indicate probable targets of prejudice differ markedly in the extent to which they believe they have been exposed to microaggressions.
Knowing what we know about the limitations of self-report evidence in psychology, there is no reason to believe perceptions of microaggression are invariably accurate. Instead, there is every reason to take seriously the possibility some supposed microaggressions warrant a more innocuous interpretation. When one person commends someone of another race on how articulate they are, this may reveal a belief in racial inferiority and express animosity, but it could also be an innocent compliment.
What to do?
The challenge in responding to criticisms of the microaggression concept is not to throw the baby out with bathwater. Subtle prejudice and unconscious bias are real and consequential. It is also beyond question that the general decline in overt expressions of bigotry in recent decades does not signal the end of prejudice. People who claim to be free of it may harbor troubling attitudes and behave in discriminating ways.
However, “microaggression” is not the best way to think about subtle prejudice. Its definition is vague and elastic. It fails to appreciate the ambiguity of social interaction, relies too exclusively on subjective perceptions, and too readily ascribes hostile intent. By doing so, the idea of microaggression contributes to a punitive and accusatory environment that is more likely to create backlash than social progress.
This is not to claim the idea of DEI has no place in our discussions of forms of discrimination. However, it needs to be measured and tied to specific acts that illustrate the objectionable behaviors in the classroom or workplace.
Posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on January 16, 2025. You can sign up for his newsletter and learn more about his activities at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/.