Microaggressions Reconsidered

Abstract This chapter launches a novel critique of the dominant view of microaggressions made popular by psychologist Derald Wing Sue and his colleagues. The authors call this view the act-based account because it theorizes microaggressions from the perspective of those enacting them and categorizes them on the basis of the type of act committed. The critique consists of four main problems with the act-based account of microaggressions that illuminate theoretical, practical, and moral limitations of such an approach. On the basis of these problems, the chapter argues that an act-based account of microaggressions must be revised. The critique and analysis presented here set the stage for Chapter 3, which introduces and develops a novel, harm-based account of microaggressions. Such an account avoids the theoretical, practical, and moral limitations of the act-based account.