Abstract
It has been argued that “old-fashioned” blatantly sexist or racist incivilities have shifted to more benign, nuanced, and veiled forms such as microaggressions and microinvalidations. This chapter argues that there has not been an evolutionary accommodation in aggression, invalidation, or incivility. Rather, the violence that lies at the heart of these behaviors has undergone a reconstruction—a metamorphosis—that results in different observable manifestations of violence, but which leaves the essential substance intact. It is argued that the altered boundaries and ever-present liminality, which are always associated with metamorphoses, have added to the ambiguities, doubt-filled contradictions, and significant harm experienced by both micro-abusers and their targets. As a metamorphosis, rather than as a linear shift, prejudice-based aggression may well continue to change its form and manifestation in the future, but not its substance.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231.
Andersson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.2307/259136.
Augoustinos, M., & Every, D. (2007). Contemporary racist discourse: Taboos against racism and racist accusations. In A. Weatherall, B. Watson, & C. Gallois (Eds.), Language, Discourse and Social Psychology (pp. 233–245). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230206168_10.
Barling, J., Dupré, K. E., & Kelloway, E. K. (2009). Predicting workplace aggression and violence. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 671–692. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163629.
Barreto, M., Ryan, M. K., & Schmitt, M. T. (2009). The Glass Ceiling in the 21st Century: Understanding Barriers to Gender Equality. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bell, J. (2015). There are no racists here: The rise of racial extremism, when no one is racist. Michigan Journal of Race & Law, 20(2), 349–376.
Brief, A. P., Dietz, J., Cohen, R. R., Pugh, S. D., & Vaslow, J. B. (2000). Just doing business: Modern racism and obedience to authority as explanations for employment discrimination. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 81(1), 72–97. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1999.2867.
Buxton, R. (2009). Forms of Astonishment: Greek Myths of Metamorphosis. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Buxton, R. (2013). Myths and Tragedies in Their Ancient Greek Contexts. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, B., & Manning, J. (2014). Microaggression and moral cultures. Comparative Sociology, 13(6), 692–726. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341332.
Caplan, P. J., & Ford, J. C. (2014). The voices of diversity: What students of diverse races/ethnicities and both sexes tell us about their college experiences and their perceptions about their institutions’ progress toward diversity. Aporia, 6(4), 30–69. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.oa.uottawa.ca/journals/aporia/articles/2014_10/Caplan_Ford.pdf.
Carle, S. D. (2011). A new look at the history of Title VII disparate impact doctrine. Florida Law Review, 63(1), 251–300.
Chang, R. S. (2016). Will LGBT antidiscrimination law follow the course of race antidiscrimination law? Minnesota Law Review, 100, 2103–2151.
Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Leskinen, E. A., Huerta, M., & Magley, V. J. (2013). Selective incivility as modern discrimination in organizations: Evidence and impact. Journal of Management, 39(6), 1579–1605. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311418835.
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (1998). On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The causes, consequences, and challenges of aversive racism. In J. L. Eberhardt & S. T. Fiske (Eds.), Confronting Racism: The Problem and the Response (pp. 3–22). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2004). Aversive racism. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 1–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(04)36001-6.
Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., Niemann, Y., & Snider, K. (2001). Racial, ethnic, and cultural differences in responding to distinctiveness and discrimination on campus: Stigma and common group identity. Journal of Social Issues, 57(1), 167–188. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00207.
Fleras, A. (2016). Theorizing microaggressions as racism 3.0: Shifting the discourse. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 48(2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2016.0011.
Forrest-Bank, S., & Jenson, J. M. (2015). Differences in experiences of racial and ethnic microaggression among Asian, Latino/Hispanic, Black, and White young adults. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 42(1), 141–161.
Freeman, A. D. (1978). Legitimizing racial discrimination through antidiscrimination law: A critical review of Supreme Court doctrine. Minnesota Law Review, 62, 1049–1119.
Hawes, G. (2008). Metamorphosis and metamorphic identity: The myth of Actaeon in works of Ovid, Dante and John Gower. Iris, 21, 21–42. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from https://classicsvic.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/hawesvol21.pdf.
Hershcovis, M. S., Reich, T. C., & Niven, K. (2015). Workplace bullying: Causes, consequences, and intervention strategies. White Paper, International Affairs Committee of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Bowling Green, OH: SIOP. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.siop.org/WhitePapers/WorkplaceBullyingFINAL.pdf.
Hirsch, E., & Youngjoo, C. (2017). Mandating change: The impact of court-ordered policy changes on managerial diversity. ILR Review, 70(1), 42–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793916668880.
Kabat-Farr, D., & Cortina, L. M. (2012). Incivility: Gender, race, and the discriminatory workplace. In S. Fox & T. R. Lituchy (Eds.), Gender and the Dysfunctional Workplace (pp. 107–119). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857932600.00014.
Kang, J., & Banaji, M. R. (2006). Fair measures: A behavioral realist revision of affirmative action. California Law Review, 94(4), 1063–1118. https://doi.org/10.2307/20439059.
Mitchell, M., Every, D., & Ranzijn, R. (2011). Everyday antiracism in interpersonal contexts: Constraining and facilitating factors for “speaking up” against racism. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 21(4), 329–341. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.1077.
Namie, G. (2014). U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey. Workplace Bullying Institute, Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.workplacebullying.org/multi/pdf/WBI-2014-US-Survey.pdf.
Nielsen, M., Notelaers, G., & Einarsen, S. (2011). Measuring exposure to workplace bullying. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf, & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace: Developments in Theory, Research, and Practice (2nd ed., pp. 149–174). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/EBK1439804896-9.
Paschalis, M. (2014). Ovidian metamorphosis and Nonnian poikilon eidos. In K. Spanoudakis (Ed.), Nonnus of Panopolis in Context: Poetry and Cultural Milieu in Late Antiquity With a Section on Nonnus and the Modern World (pp. 97–122). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110339420.97.
Pesic, P. (2010). Shapes of Proteus in Renaissance art. Huntington Library Quarterly, 73(1), 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1525/hlq.2010.73.1.57.
Pierce, C., Carew, J., Pierce-Gonzalez, D., & Willis, D. (1978). An experiment in racism: TV commercials. In C. Pierce (Ed.), Television and Education (pp. 62–88). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.1177/001312457701000105.
Ritenhouse, D. (2013). Where Title VII stops: Exploring subtle race discrimination in the workplace. DePaul Journal of Social Justice, 7(1), 87–116.
Solórzano, D., Ceja, M., & Yosso, T. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate: The experiences of African American college students. Journal of Negro Education, 69(1/2), 60–73.
Sue, D. W. (2010a). Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Sue, D. W. (2010b). Microaggressions and Marginality: Manifestation, Dynamics, and Impact. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Sue, D. W., Bucceri, J., Lin, A. I., Nadal, K. L., & Torino, G. C. (2009). Racial microaggressions and the Asian American experience. Asian American Journal of Psychology, S(1), 88–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/1948-1985.S.1.88.
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271.
Swim, J. K., Aikin, K. J., Hall, W. S., & Hunter, B. A. (1995). Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(2), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.199.
Takács, S. A. (2008). Initiations and mysteries in Apuleius’ metamorphoses. Electronic Antiquity, 12(1), 73–87. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ElAnt/V12N1/takacs.pdf.
Turner, V. W. (1969). The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.
Van Gennep, A. (1960/1909). The Rites of Passage. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Wells, C. (2013). Microaggressions in the context of academic communities. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 12(2), Article 3. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol12/iss2/3.
Wong, G., Derthick, A. O., David, E. J. R., Saw, A., & Okazaki, S. (2014). The what, the why, and the how: A review of racial microaggressions research in psychology. Race and Social Problems, 6(2), 181–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9107-9.
Yamada, D. (2013). Workplace bullying and the law: A report from the United States. In Workplace Bullying and Harassment (pp. 165–185). Tokyo, Japan: Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.jil.go.jp/english/reports/documents/jilpt-reports/no.12.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Starr-Glass, D. (2018). The Metamorphosis of Prejudice-Based Discourse: Change of Form, Continuity of Being. In: Cho, C., Corkett, J., Steele, A. (eds) Exploring the Toxicity of Lateral Violence and Microaggressions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74760-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74760-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74759-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74760-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)