Background
Microaggression refers to short, offensive statements or actions directed at members of discriminated groups. Microaggression may be intentional or unintentional acts based on the person’s gender, race, orientation, class, or ability. Any beliefs about a group of people that result in such actions result from prejudice.
Microaggressions have been proven to negatively impact the well-being of those targeted (Choi et al., 2022). The main danger of this phenomenon is that the micro-aggressor may not realize the destructive harm of their behavior, not believing that it is based on prejudice. Microaggression differs from social bad manners and is more than communication gaffes, since it is based on deep, unconscious discriminatory beliefs.
Social Roots and Organizational Impact
Microaggression is a global phenomenon that grows out of deep prejudices ingrained in society throughout historical development. When it reaches the organizational level, microaggression can affect a person’s standard of living (Lee et al., 2019). An example of such a negative phenomenon may be the unconscious desire of the company head to more carefully check the work of a migrant than that of an American.
From the point of view of social norms, there is nothing wrong with controlling employees, and racist attitudes in this case are unprovable. However, the employee will suffer from this form of microaggression. The global rootedness of prejudice makes microaggression more dangerous than misbehavior in society.
Normalization and Social Acceptance
The danger of microaggression lies in its relative social approval due to the mass nature of this phenomenon. For example, there has long been a public prejudice against women driving. This belief became socially supported and gradually lost its color as a gender-discriminatory act.
Therefore, women can hear micro-aggressive statements: “You are a better driver than I thought.” This form is not a compliment, although the speaker could put exactly a laudable intention into such a phrase (Sturgis & Joseph, 2022). A woman with intense internal misogyny can take such a statement as a compliment.
Social connivance and not attaching serious importance to microaggression make this phenomenon more challenging to eradicate than misbehavior in society. Microaggression can not only be ignored by society but also be consciously supported by gaslighting and downplaying the problem. For example, if a person with a mental illness receives unwanted attention based on claims that they are doing a good job despite having a mental illness.
Suppose a person targeted by such microaggressions complains about the inadmissibility of such remarks. In that case, society is more likely to say that it is exaggerated and that there is no problem. Moreover, most likely the micro-aggressor will be socially justified, since their intentions were good and there was no open discrimination (Johnson et al., 2021). Fixing microaggression as a norm hinders the development of a community in the movement towards tolerance, since such transformations require an increase in awareness of the wrongness of the phenomenon (McCann & Tudor, 2022). The justification of microaggressions with good intentions and accusations of exaggeration is a factor that allows this phenomenon to manifest itself in modern society.
Unconscious Nature and Psychological Harm
Microaggression is a significant threat because it is often unconscious. If someone behaves inappropriately in public, they may become aware that their conduct is inappropriate due to feedback from others. When a person shows microaggression, neither the person nor the people around them can fully realize the destructive impact of such actions (Williams, 2020). For example, when a bisexual person in adolescence receives a comment that this is just a period, the micro-aggressor does not realize what exactly was done wrong.
Given the presence of negative opinions about bisexual people in society, those around them will not call out the wrongness of such a statement. Since the micro-aggressor is convinced of their position towards adolescent self-identification, they will think they did everything right. Thus, microaggression remains a non-reflex part of the behavior, which makes it difficult to eradicate.
Finally, microaggressions are more dangerous than impolite behavior since they cause more damage to mental health due to their systematic nature. When a person is regularly confronted with socially unacceptable discrimination, their identity can be violated. This is associated with the development of complexes, insecurities, and feelings that other people are better than oneself based on a set of attributes. A person cannot openly declare their problem because they are afraid of being misunderstood and rejected.
Feelings of implicit social condemnation can result in depressive symptoms (Torres-Harding et al., 2020). Microaggressions systematically affect a large group of people, making their lives worse almost daily. The constant negative impact of microaggressions undermines the mental well-being of a significant part of the community, and therefore the entire society (Khalid, 2023). Microaggressions can accompany a person from a discriminated group throughout their life and regularly undermine mental well-being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, microaggression is a dangerous social phenomenon that negatively affects the well-being of those discriminated against. Microaggression poses a threat because of its systematic, global nature, which is rooted in prejudice and public ignorance. Microaggressions can haunt the discriminated person daily and undermine their mental state, leading to identity disorders and psychological problems. Raising awareness of the negativity of microaggression is the only way to eradicate this form of discrimination.
References
Choi, S., Clark, P. G., Gutierrez, V., & Runion, C. (2022). Racial microaggressions and Latinx well-being: A systematic review. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 31(1), 16-27. Web.
Johnson, V. E., Nadal, K. L., Sissoko, D. G., & King, R. (2021). “It’s not in your head”: Gaslighting, splaining, victim blaming, and other harmful reactions to microaggressions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(5), 1024-1036. Web.
Khalid, M. N. (2023). A study of microaggression and its psychological and physiological effects on individuals from marginalized Communities. Journal of Social Sciences Review, 3(2), 297-304. Web.
Lee, E. J., Ditchman, N., Thomas, J., & Tsen, J. (2019). Microaggressions experienced by people with multiple sclerosis in the workplace: An exploratory study using Sue’s taxonomy. Rehabilitation psychology, 64(2), 179-193. Web.
McCann, M., & Tudor, K. (2022). Unintentional racial microaggressions and the social unconscious. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 19(2), 202-216. Web.
Sturgis, M. L., & Joseph, R. L. (2022). “You’re the whitest black person I know”: Speaking back to microaggressions through the poetics of interruption. Women’s Studies in Communication, 45(3), 358-377. Web.
Torres-Harding, S., Torres, L., & Yeo, E. (2020). Depression and perceived stress as mediators between racial microaggressions and somatic symptoms in college students of color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90(1), 125–135. Web.
Williams, M. T. (2020). Microaggressions: Clarification, evidence, and impact. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(1), 3-26. Web.