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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microaggression | 2/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:13:14.791929+00:00 | kb-cron |
Microassault: an explicit racial derogation; verbal/nonverbal; e.g. name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory actions. Microinsult: communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity; subtle snubs; unknown to the perpetrator; hidden insulting message to the recipient. Microinvalidation: communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person belonging to a particular group. Environmental Microaggressions (Macro-Level): Racial assaults, insults and invalidations which are manifested on systemic and environmental level. Some psychologists have criticized microaggression theory for assuming that all verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities are due to bias. Thomas Schacht says that it is uncertain whether a behavior is due to racial bias or is a larger phenomenon that occurs regardless of identity conflict. However, Kanter and colleagues found that racial microaggressions were robustly correlated to five separate measures of bias. In reviewing the microaggression literature, Scott Lilienfeld suggested that microassaults should probably be struck from the taxonomy because the examples provided in the literature tend not to be "micro", but are outright assaults, intimidation, harassment and bigotry; in some cases, examples have included criminal acts. Others have pointed out that what could be perceived as subtle snubs could be due to people having autism, and assuming ill will could be harmful to people with autism.
==== Examples ==== In conducting two focus groups with Asian-Americans, for instance, Sue proposed different themes under the ideology of microinsult and microinvalidation. Microinvalidation:
Alien in own land: When people assume people of color are foreigners. E.g.: "So where are you really from?" or "Why don't you have an accent?" Denial of racial reality: When people emphasize that a person of color does not suffer from racial discrimination or inequality (this correlates to the idea of model minority). Invisibility: Asian-Americans are considered invisible or outside discussions of race and racism. E.g.: Discussions on race in the United States excluding Asian-Americans by focusing only on 'white and black' issues. Refusal to acknowledge intra-ethnic differences: When a speaker ignores intra-ethnic differences and assumes a broad homogeneity over multiple ethnic groups. E.g.: Descriptions such as "all Asian-Americans look alike", or assumptions that all members of an ethnic minority speak the same language or have the same cultural values. Microinsult:
Pathologizing cultural values/communication styles: When Asian American culture and values are viewed as less desirable. E.g.: Viewing the valuation of silence (a cultural norm present in some Asian communities) as a fault, leading to disadvantages caused by the expectation of verbal participation common in many Western academic settings. Second-class citizenship: When minorities are treated as lesser human beings, or are not treated with equal rights or priority. E.g.: A Korean man asking for a drink in a bar being ignored by the bartender, or the bartender choosing to serve a white man before serving the Korean man. Ascription of intelligence: When people of color are stereotyped to have a certain level of intelligence based on their race. E.g.: "You people always do well in school", or "If I see a lot of Asian students in my class, I know it's going to be a hard class". Exoticization of non-white women: When non-white women are stereotyped as being in the "exotic" category based on gender, appearance, and media expectations. E.g.: Descriptions of an Asian-American woman as a 'Dragon Lady', 'Tiger mother', or 'Lotus Blossom', or using symbols associated with Eastern cultures. In a 2017 peer-reviewed review of the literature, Scott Lilienfeld critiqued microaggression research for hardly having advanced beyond taxonomies such as the above, which was proposed by Sue nearly ten years earlier. While acknowledging the reality of "subtle slights and insults directed toward minorities", Lilienfeld concluded that the concept and programs for its scientific assessment are "far too underdeveloped on the conceptual and methodological fronts to warrant real-world application". He recommended abandonment of the term microaggression since "the use of the root word 'aggression' in 'microaggression' is conceptually confusing and misleading". In addition, he called for a moratorium on microaggression training programs until further research can develop the field. In 2017 Althea Nagai, who worked as a research fellow at the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity, published an article in the National Association of Scholars journal, criticizing microaggression research as pseudoscience. Nagai said that critical race theory influences microaggression theory and that researchers "reject the methodology and standards of modern science." She lists various technical shortcomings of research on racial microaggressions, including "biased interview questions, reliance on narrative and small numbers of respondents, problems of reliability, issues of replicability, and ignoring alternative explanations."