Racial and Gender Microaggressions in College Life

Answer

Racial and Gender Microaggressions in College Life

1. Introduction

Social settings, ranging from workplaces to institutions of learning, comprise of people of different gender and from different cultural, ethnic, religious, racial and social class backgrounds. The way these people interact, behave and socialize in their social surrounds is influenced largely by their gender and racial identities, and can be studied through ethnography. For instance, those from subordinated social groups such as the minorities and women experience covert insults and derogatory comments during socialization in the majority- and male-dominated social settings.  Pierce et al. (1995) and Sue et al. (2007) refer to these experiences of subtle forms of sexism and racism as microaggressions, and are commonplace in workplaces and college settings. This research paper examines how female students and students of color experience microaggressions during college life and the impacts of such experiences on their social wellbeing. The paper begins with a brief review of existing literature and research on the concept of microaggressions and goes on to describe the qualitative research process conducted to understand the manifestation of microaggressions in an educational setting.    

2. Literature Review
   • What are Microaggressions?

The term “microaggressions” was coined by Dr. Chester Pierce in the 1970s and later developed by Derald Sue in the mid-2000s. Microaggressions are often directed towards subordinated social groups and thus can be classified in three broad groups namely, racial, gender and social class microaggressions. Since microaggressions are subtle and unnoticeable forms of racism and sexism, they are increasingly attracting the interest of sociology scholars and researchers who describe them as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward” subordinated groups (Sue et al., 2007 p. 271; Nigatu, 2013; Connley, 2018). Wong et al. (2014) adds that racial microaggressions are experiences of racism in everyday life, whereas gender microaggressions can be thought of as everyday experiences of sexism directed to female students and other women. As Sue et al. (2007) further observe, perpetrators of these subtle insults, whether coworkers or college mates are often unware that their communications have negative psychological impacts on those they are interacting with. Thus, the three common forms of microaggressions are microinsult, microassault and microinvalidation (Sue et al., 2007 p. 271). In the U.S, at least one or more of these forms of microaggressions manifest in more than 80% of interracial, cross-cultural encounters in colleges (McCabe, 2009).       

• Manifestation of Microaggressions

According to Premack (2018), microaggressions are subtle, unconscious and unintentional expressions of sexism or racism that manifest when people (usually from privileged social groups) complement their colleagues (from subordinated social groups) through comments that are seemingly innocuous. Table 1 below shows various examples of communications and comments that constitute microaggressions.

• Impacts of Microaggressions on Female Students and Students of Color

Terry (2019) concluded in her article that microaggressions are invisible forms of sexism, racism and social class segregation whose impacts are far-reaching to the victims. It leads to loss of confidence, engenders mental and psychological distress, elicits a feeling of “us vs. them”, and ultimately causes social isolation.

2. Research Process
   • Research Question and Hypothesis
3. How do racial and gender microaggressions manifest in college settings?
4. What are the impacts of microaggressions on student’s college life and social wellbeing?

• Hypothesis

1. H1: Microaggressions manifest in college settings when well-intentioned professors and college mates (of opposite gender and race) make comments or engage in behaviors that make those being addressed feel uncomfortable.
2. H2: Microaggressions engender psychological distress and interfere with the victim’s social wellbeing.
   • Population

The population for this research study are male and female college students aged between 18 and 26 years who are also part-time workers in various retail stores and fast food restaurants in different cities.

• Research Method

This research followed the qualitative secondary research approach and the research design was ethnography. Thus, three journal articles (McCabe, 2009; Ellis et al., 2019 and Harris, 2017), one news article (Connley, 2018), two online magazines (Nogatu, 2013; Premack, 2018) and one blog (Sue, 2010), were reviewed to collect the required data. 

• Data Analysis.

Being a qualitative research study, the resulting data was analyzed through thematic analysis. This involved coding the narratives and accounts of the students’ experiences with microaggressions as indicated in the reviewed articles and afterwards dividing the data into four key themes; microinsults, viewing African-American male students as criminals, microassaults and microvalidations.

3. Findings and Conclusions

Microaggressions in college settings, just like in workplaces and other social surrounds manifest in four major forms; namely, microinsults, viewing African-American male students as criminals, microassaults and microvalidations.