Microaggressions in Everyday Life

Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. Lisa Beth Spanierman, Ph.D., is Professor and Head of the Faculty of Counseling and Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Preface xi

Section One: Psychological Manifestation and Dynamics of Microaggressions

Chapter One Microaggressions as Toxic Rain: Here, There, and Everywhere! 3

What Are Microaggressions? 7

Racial Microaggressions 9

The Invisibility and Nebulous Nature of Everyday Racism 12

Gender Microaggressions 16

Sexual‐Orientation Microaggressions 19

Misunderstanding Microaggressions 20

Stop Making Mountains Out of Molehills! 20

Everything’s a Microaggression in This Climate of Political Correctness 20

Your Analysis is Flawed 21

Microaggressions, Marginality, and Harmful Impact 23

The Way Forward: Making the “Invisible” Visible 26

Chapter Two Taxonomy of Microaggressions 31

Conscious and Deliberate Bigotry versus Unconscious and Unintentional Bias 33

The Changing Face of Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism 34

Microaggressions 36

Environmental Macroaggressions 37

Forms of Microaggressions 41

Microassaults 41

Microinsults and Microinvalidations: Common Themes 48

Microinsults 49

Microinvalidations 52

The Way Forward: Defining, Recognizing, and Deconstructing Hidden Messages in Microaggressions 55

Chapter Three The Psychological Dilemmas and Dynamics of Microaggressions 59

Clash of Racial Realities : “You Are Just Being Hypersensitive and Misreading the Situation!” 62

Invisibility of Unintentional Biases: “I’m Not a Racist!” 67

Perceived Minimal Harm of Microaggressions : “Don’t Make a Mountain Out of a Molehill!” 70

The Catch‐22 of Responding to Microaggressions : “You’re Damned if You Do and Damned if You Don’t!” 73

The Way Forward: Dealing with Psychological Dilemmas 79

Section Two: Microaggressive Impact on Targets and Perpetrators

Chapter Four The Microaggression Process Model: The Internal Struggle of Targets 85

Tracing the Impact of Microaggressions 88

Phase One—The Potential Microaggressive Incident or Event 88

Phase Two—Initial Assessment and Questioning of the Incident 96

Phase Three—Reaction Processes 97

Phase Four—Interpretation and Meaning 103

Phase Five—Consequences and Impact 106

The Microaggression Process Model: Recap 110

The Way Forward: Strength through Adversity 112

Chapter Five Microaggressive Stress: Impact on Physical and Psychological Well‐Being 115

Biological Stressors: A Roadmap to Understanding Microaggressive Harm 117

Psychological and Social Stressors 119

Microaggressions and Daily Hassles 120

Impact of Everyday Hassles 121

The Life‐Change Model of Stress 122

The Transactional Model of Stress 123

Situating Stress in the Macro‐Context of Oppression 124

The Harmful Effects of Microaggressive Stress 127

Physical Health Effects of Microaggressive Stressors 127

Psychological Health Effects of Microaggressive Stressors 129

Strength through Adversity 140

The Way Forward: Responding Strategically and Resisting Microaggressions 140

Chapter Six Microaggressive Perpetrators: Who, What, When, How, and Why? 145

Who Are Microaggressive Perpetrators? 147

How and Why Do Individuals Perpetrate Microaggressions? 149

Using the Tools: Creating and Maintaining Dominance 149

Power to Impose a Biased Reality 151

What Makes It So Difficult for Perpetrators to Recognize Their Privilege? 153

Layer One—Fear of Appearing Biased 154

Layer Two—Fear of Recognizing One’s Complicity in Oppression 155

Layer Three—Fear of Acknowledging One’s Privilege 156

Layer Four—Fear of Taking Personal Responsibility to End Oppression 158

What Are the Costs of Microaggressions to Perpetrators? 160

Cognitive Costs of Oppression 161

Emotional Costs of Oppression 162

Behavioral Costs of Oppression 164

Spiritual and Moral Costs of Oppression 165

The Way Forward: The Ethical Mandate 166

Section Three: Interrogating Microaggressions: On Research, Teaching, and Counseling

Chapter Seven Researching Microaggressions: Show Me the Evidence! 171

In Their Own Words: Qualitative Investigation of Microaggressions 173

Purposive Samples 178

Focus Groups 178

Individual Interviews 180

Other Data Sources 180

Trustworthiness 182

Do Findings Generalize? Quantitative Investigation of Microaggressions 182

Measuring Microaggressions 183

Quantitative Research Designs 189

Summary 191

The Way Forward: Future Research Directions 192

Chapter Eight Teaching about Microaggressions 199

Faculty Narratives: Facing Challenges in the Classroom 201

Challenges Faculty Members of Color Face 202

Challenges White Faculty Members Face 205

Encountering Microaggressions in the Classroom 207

Navigating Microaggressions: What Can Educators Do? 209

Microaggressions Pedagogy: How to Teach about Microaggressions 213

The Way Forward: General Strategies for Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race 216

Chapter Nine Microaggressions in Counseling and Psychotherapy 223

Underutilization of Mental Health Services 225

Premature Termination and Quality of Mental Health Care 226

Multicultural Counseling Competence 227

Manifestations of Racial Microaggressions in Counseling and Psychotherapy 228

Microaggressions Influence Counseling Process and Outcomes 237

Innovative Research Approaches 240

The Way Forward: Microaggressions Implications for Practice and Research 241

Section Four: Disarming Microaggressions and Macroaggressions

Chapter Ten Microintervention Strategies for Disarming Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 249

Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 251

The Need to Take Action: Targets, Allies, and Bystanders 252

Targets 253

Allies 254

Bystanders 256

Responding to Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 257

Microinterventions 258

Strategic Goal: Make the “Invisible” Visible 261

Strategic Goal: Disarm the Microaggression 269

Strategic Goal: Educate the Perpetrator 271

Strategic Goal: Seek External Intervention or Support 273

Microinterventions and Macroaggressions 275

Context Matters 277

The Way Forward: Microinterventions and the New Research Frontier 278

References 281

Author Index 321

Subject Index 337