{"id":908,"date":"2021-10-28T03:26:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T03:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu\/mrowe\/?page_id=908"},"modified":"2025-01-06T00:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T00:52:56","slug":"micro-inequities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu\/mrowe\/micro-inequities\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro-inequities (including Micro-aggressions) and Micro-affirmations"},"content":{"rendered":"

This publication list includes many accounts of apparently tiny events that can have a major impact for harm\u2014or for good. Several articles describe the minutiae of discrimination, micro-inequities that are part of\u2014and maintain\u2014structural sexism and racism and other forms of discrimination. Subtle discrimination is part of the scaffolding of persistent inequality. (At first, micro-inequities were nicknamed \u201cSaturn\u2019s Rings phenomena,\u201d because the planet Saturn is obscured by rings\u2014although if you were in a ring, you might only feel pings from bits of sand and ice.)<\/p>\n

The reverse is also true: Micro-affirmations form part of the scaffolding that supports people to thrive. The power of micro-affirmations is only beginning to be studied and understood. The articles on this page offer an account of where these two terms came from, and include:<\/p>\n

\u00bb<\/strong>\u00a0 An extension of Professor Chester Pierce\u2019s original work on racist micro-aggressions<\/em>, to add in a wider set of all<\/em> micro-behaviors whose effects are perceived as unfair<\/em> whether or not \u201caggressive.\u201d This wider of set of micro-behaviors includes events resulting from unconscious bias, negligence, thoughtlessness, lack of skills or knowledge, and accidents, as well as those that are hostile or aggressive. This wider set, including micro-aggressions, was named micro-inequities<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb<\/strong>\u00a0 Discussion of the fact that while micro-messages affect everyone, they may have disparate impact on people who are perceived as non-traditional or less powerful in a specific environment. The original definition of micro-inequities was: \u201capparently small events which are often ephemeral and hard-to-prove, events which are covert, often unintentional, frequently unrecognized by the perpetrator, which occur wherever people are perceived to be \u2018different.<\/em>\u2019\u201d The discussions were later expanded to include a yet-wider set of micro-events whose effects are perceived to be unfair<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb<\/strong>\u00a0 The ways that micro-affirmations may help to block<\/em> unconscious bias, and in many ways address the structural nature of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination and unfairness. The original definition of micro-affirmations was \u201capparently small acts, which are often ephemeral and hard-to-see, events that are public and private, often unconscious but very effective, which occur wherever people wish to help others to succeed.\u201d<\/em> Affirmations may be fundamental to our experience of \u201cbelonging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Micro-affirmations are being widely discussed; going forward, our understanding of micro-affirmations will benefit from more focused definitions and more focused research.<\/p>\n

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