Microaggression

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Microaggression ( English microaggression ) is a social-psychological term that was coined in 1970 by Chester Pierce to describe tiny statements in everyday communication that are perceived as intrusive. This refers to short, everyday utterances that send negative messages to the other person that relate to their group membership.

Manifestations

The debate about microaggression is particularly widespread in the USA. The approach of the psychologist Derald Wing Sue from Columbia University is fundamental . It is the starting point for most of the scientific work on this topic.

According to Sue's approach, microaggressions can occur in different forms:

  • Micro attacks ( micro assault ) . A micro-attack is an explicit verbal or non-verbal attack that the attacker wants, in order to degrade or hurt the attacked person, but which remains below the threshold of openly racist statements or acts of violence. Micro-attacks are similar to classic, open racism. Micro-attacks do not play a role in research on microaggression, presumably for this reason.
  • Microinsults ( microinsults ) . Micro-insults are statements that are characterized by rudeness and lack of sensitivity to the origin or identity of the attacked person. These are subtle forms of degradation that the attacker does not even need to be aware of, but which expose their prejudices. Often the context is crucial. If, for example, a person of non-white skin color is praised for their upscale linguistic expression, this implies the subliminal message, according to Sue, that this is an exception. Micro-insults can also be non-verbal, for example by ignoring non-whites or only taking note of them casually.
  • Micro-devaluations ( microinvalidations ) . Micro-devaluations are forms of expression that ignore, exclude or belittle the thoughts, feelings or perceptions of those attacked. According to Sue, a micro-devaluation occurs, for example, when a white person says to a person of non-white skin color that race is irrelevant for him, as this negates their identity and downplays their specific experiences.

Affected

Affected by microaggression are usually members of marginalized social groups: people of color , people with a migration background, homosexuals or other people with a non-heterosexual orientation (referred to as LGBT , LGBTQ or LGBTQQ in the American and sometimes also German debate ), transgender , von People affected by classicism or people with disabilities. However, the concept is applied to marginalized groups of all kinds, including religious minorities. For example, on the first day of school, a German school principal is amazed that a dark-skinned student speaks fluent German. Another example comes from a male Muslim youth of Bosnian origin who was advised by a teacher to change his first name, Muhamed , because he would “surely have problems later” because of his name.

The term plays a role in the social and political debate, especially at US universities with a liberal self-image. Incidents at Oberlin College , Ohio , have become known to the public . Here students from minority groups report that despite the official slogans of welcome, they still feel excluded in everyday life, they are little more than decorative elements that are supposed to calm the guilty conscience, so that behind the facade everything stays the same. You describe as microaggression in particular the reactions of the representatives of the liberal, white majority society. Essential concepts for them are identity politics and intersectional discrimination. The sometimes complicated language regulations that are recommended to avoid microaggressive expressions are pejoratively called " political correctness " by their conservative opponents . Since, according to the approach, microaggressions cannot be seen through by representatives of the majority society even with the best of intentions, they should accept the statements of the disadvantaged themselves and make themselves their allies ("allying", from ally: ally). The journalist Nathan Heller, who describes the phenomenon in a highly acclaimed article, points out the dangers that can result from students withdrawing into sheltered comfort zones and increasingly smaller, homogeneous milieus. In his view, however, it could be the beginning of a new social movement encompassing an entire generation.

cause

In most cases, the perpetrators of behavior perceived as being microaggressive perceive their criticized behavior as "actually" benevolent and impartial towards the addressee. If they are approached by the person feeling injured or by another observer, the perpetrators defend their behavior by saying that it was a “misunderstanding” or “just a joke” or that one should not “make an elephant out of the mosquito”.

criticism

Journalist Paul Rowan Brian objects to the theory of microaggression that it mixes trivial and negligible racist remarks with real racism . Similarly, Amitai Etzioni in The Atlantic argues that preoccupation with microaggression could be a distraction from more serious actions.

In the scientific debate, the concept of microaggression is criticized because of the problems of empirical research. Accordingly, the psychologist Scott Lilienfeld concluded in an article for Perspectives on Psychological Science that the concept or programs for its research are "methodologically and conceptually far too underdeveloped to be applied in the real world". The classification of a statement or an act of behavior is primarily based on the way a certain target person perceives it, while others, possibly also members of the same minority group, might see it differently. Sue and colleagues have already pointed out the problem that, in their personal world of experience, they perceive supposedly innocent behavior as another case in a long chain of similar small degradations, which may not be psychologically understandable for the perpetrator, since he is missing corresponding experiences . One critic noted that it may be a tragic rather than a morally condemnable form of entanglement in which neither side can be blamed.

The American statistician and equality expert Althea Nagai rates the concept of microaggression as a pseudoscience , as well-known research supporters rejected established methods and standards of modern science (comparison groups, sufficiently large database, unbiased questions, reproducibility of results, use of modern statistical analysis methods).

Most of the studies on the topic are methodically attacked because of their limited database. Many studies had a number of participants between 5 and 97, with an average of 19, which puts their scientific significance into perspective. However, within the framework of the so-called critical race theory, there has long been a research approach in the USA that assesses storytelling as a legitimate scientific method. In addition, the academic milieu, especially students and university members, is far over-represented in studies on the topic, to which more than half of the published studies are devoted.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ CM Pierce: Offensive Mechanisms. In: Floyd Barrington Barbour (ed.): The Black Seventies , pp. 265-282, Porter Sargent Publisher, Boston 1970, p. 277.
  2. ↑ Michele A. Paludi: Managing Diversity in Today's Workplace: Strategies for Employees and Employers . Praeger, 2012, ISBN 0313393176 .
  3. ↑ a b c Gloria Wong et al. (2014): The What, the Why, and the How: A Review of Racial Microaggressions Research in Psychology. Race and Social Problems 6 (2): 181-200. doi : 10.1007 / s12552-013-9107-9
  4. ↑ a b c d e Derald Wing Sue et al .: Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice . In: American Psychologist . 62 (2007) 4, pp. 271-286.
  5. ↑ Derald Wing Sue: Micro Aggression in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. ISBN 978-0470491409
  6. ↑ a b c Toan Quoc Nguyen: “There is just something like a puppet perpetrator.” School-based and institutional experiences of racism, child vulnerability and microaggression . In: ZEP - Journal for International Educational Research and Developmental Education. 36 (2013) 2, pp. 20-24.
  7. ^ Howard S. Schwartz: Analysis of a Racism Hoax at Oberlin College. In: Howard S. Schwartz (editor): Political Correctness and the Destruction of Social Order. Chronicling the Rise of the Pristine Self. Springer International Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-39805-1
  8. ↑ cf. e.g. Lewis & Clark College, Department of Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement: ABC's of Social Justice. A Glossary of Working Language for Socially Conscious Conversation. 2014. online
  9. ↑ Nathan Heller: The Big Uneasy. What's roiling the liberal-arts campus? The New Yorker, May 30, 2016
  10. ^ Stephanie Y. Evans: African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education: Community Service, Service-learning, and Community-based Research . State University of New York Press, 2009, p. 126 f., ISBN 143842874X .
  11. ^ Katie Lynn Love: An Emancipatory Study with African-American Women in Predominantly White Nursing Schools . Proquest, 2009, p. 221.
  12. ^ Paul Rowan Brian: Unmasking The Mustachioed Menace Of Microaggression . In: The Federalist . December 16, 2013, accessed August 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ Amitai Etzioni: Don't Sweat the Microaggressions. The old pitfalls of new sensitivities in political speech . In: The Atlantic . April 8, 2014, accessed August 30, 2015.
  14. ↑ Scott Lilienfeld (2017): Microaggressions - Strong Claims, Inadequate Evidence . Perspectives on Psychological Science 12 (1): 138-169. doi : 10.1177 / 1745691616659391 (open access)
  15. ↑ Rafael S. Harris Jr .: Racial microaggression? How do you know? In: American Psychologist 63 (4), 2008, pp. 275-276. doi : 10.1037 / 0003-066X.63.4.275
  16. ^ The Pseudo-Science of Microaggressions | National Association of Scholars. Retrieved August 17, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Gloria Ladson-Billings: Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice field like education? In: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 11 (1), 1998, pp. 7–24. doi : 10.1080 / 095183998236863