SOCI 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Stereotype Threat, Racialization, Research Question
3 May 2018
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Lecture 25: Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education
April 12th, 2018
Racial Microaggressions
! Defining racial microaggressions
•!Racial microaggressions: a form of racism that is automatic or unconscious and consists of
subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color (Solorzano et
al., 2000)
o!Concept first proposed by psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce, MD, in the 1970s
o!Concept used more in psychology (esp. educational and counseling psychology) than
sociology, but over the past decade or so, it has taken a lot of currency in the public
and increasingly in sociology
! Racial microaggressions and stereotypes – strong relationship between the 2
•!Racial stereotypes play important role in racial microaggressions
•!Stereotype threat: a social-psychological predicament…where negative stereotypes about
one’s group…is seen as threatening…threat entails possibility of being judged and treated
stereotypically, or of possibly self-fulfilling such a stereotype. (Solorzano et al., 2000)
o!Example: testing situations, minority students perform poorly when primed with race;
(also extends to women)
! Consequences of racial microaggressions
•!“In and of itself a microaggression may seem harmless, but the cumulative burden of a
lifetime of microaggressions can theoretically contribute to diminished mortality, augmented
morbidity, and flattened confidence”
o!Pierce, 1995, p. 281, cited in Solorzano et al., 2000
o!This concept at microaggression is really operating at the individual level, but through
a lifetime of exposure to these, it could take a toll on the person’s psyche, which
could impact the person physiologically…
o!These can scale up to produce group inequality
From the Viewpoint of University Students in Canada
! Indigenous university students in Canada
•!Less than 10% of indigenous people hold a university degree
•!When it comes to the educational experience with the indigenous students, what happens
when they get through the door is of importance too as they may feel some kind of exclusion
•!According to Clark et al, educational system is “one of the key institutions that perpetuates
the racialization [attribution of negative racial stereotypes] of Aboriginal peoples” (Clark et
al., 2014)
•!They wanted to understand what does the experience of indigenous students in school look
like, and what kind of challenges do they encounter. So they focused on groups with 6
Indigenous students (N=6) at “leading Canadian university”
•!Research question: What do Indigenous students’ experiences with racial microaggressions
on campus look like?
Document Summary
Lecture 25: race and ethnicity in higher education. From the viewpoint of university students in canada. Indigenous culture isn"t compatible with the modern culture stuck in the past. Non-indigenous" peers believed that indigenous identity not compatible with a modern consumer culture and technologically complex society stuck in the past . Do you guys live in teepees still? o 2) false assumptions that name and phenotype are linked with ethnic identity. Names mark aboriginal persons as foreign as not canadian justification for ridicule and/or disrespect. Names serve as a justification for ridiculing and disrespecting indigenous students. Although the interaction may seem benign, the kind of misallocations and misassumption that staff members name about their names, serves as platform for ridicule and disrespect for that particular student: the authors also focused on microinvalidations. Here are some examples: o 1) withstanding jealous accusations. Non-indigenous peers minimize indigenous students" academic achievements. I"ve never been the person to not openly discuss my ethnicity.
