L’oppressione, anche quando non si vede, ha effetti reali. Comprendere e intervenire sulle microaggressioni tra “dato-per-scontato”, violenza epistemica e riflessione socio-criminologica

Abstract

The chapter analyzes the concept of microaggression by detaching it from its psychological origins and instead linking it to the dimensions of privilege. In doing so, the chapter focuses on the power of the “unmarked,” arguing that understanding microaggressions requires entering the (in)visible regimes of what is taken for granted. Unmarked categories lie in the background of social interactions and take on a hegemonic character, shaping the way we understand and reproduce the social world. Cognitive and cultural attention is directed toward what is marked (the figure), while the unmarked (the background) is equated with obviousness and normality. This naturalization of standards contributes to normalizing and rendering hegemonic identities invisible. In contrast, marked categories are perceived as more homogeneous and are often associated with abnormality, deviance, and lower social value. The essay highlights how microaggressions function as an invisible tool for regulating the power of unmarked systems of domination (whiteness, ableism, hetero-cis-sexism). Their characteristics—invisibility, apparent insignificance due to their everyday and cumulative nature, contexts of unawareness, normalization, and ambiguity—make them effective in maintaining systems of privilege and oppression. In other words, "normality"—which corresponds to unmarked categories—controls difference through various mechanisms. This essay also develops a critique of traditional studies on microaggressions, which are often overly focused on the behavior and unconscious motivations of the social actor. Instead, it proposes an alternative harm-based approach—one that shifts the emphasis from the act and the actor to the real impact and the different forms of harm (epistemic, emotional, existential). The conclusions of this reasoning are particularly compelling, as the authors note that analyzing harm helps to understand how an “invisible” dimension can produce not only individual suffering but, more importantly, widespread and collective social harm. For this reason, analyzing microaggressions through a harm-based approach provides a critical lens to understand and challenge structural social inequalities.