Microaggressions

Microaggressions are everyday, commonplace insults and slights, either consciously or unconsciously delivered, against people in marginalized social and identity categories. The literature and scholarly discussion around this concept began in earnest with a focus on racial microaggressions, that is, commonplace, daily insults and indignities, either consciously or unconsciously delivered against people of color. Since the 2000s, however, scholarship has expanded to include other marginalized categories related to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, mixed-race and multiracial identities, disability, social and economic class, and more. This concept makes a crucial distinction between overt forms of prejudice and maltreatment and covert forms. For example, whereas overt racism can be described as blatant, intentional, visible, and unambiguous, racial microaggressions are characterized as covert, subtle, intentional or unintentional, less visible, ...