Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory

“The intersection of racism and sexism experienced by Black teen girls has been coined as “gendered racism” (Essed, 1991; Thomas et al., 2008).”

“In terms of occupation, we have shown elsewhere (Beagan & Etowa, 2009 ) the ways “everyday racism” (Essed, 1991 ) shapes the experiences of, engagement with, and meanings of various leisure, productive and self-care occupations.”

“In this way, even in addition to the consequences of multiple discrimination (Essed 1992; Krieger 2000; Sudbury 2001), being a member of a particular ethnic group will mean different things to people who differ in terms of age, gender, social position, etc.”

“Second, “racism [and racialization] are transmitted in routine practices [that are normalized]” (Essed 1991, 10) and in turn internalized.”

“Salient for this study, Lewis, Mendenhall, Harwood, and Huntt (2013) have explored how intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) and gendered racism (Essed, 1991) may create unique experiences of gendered racial microaggressions for Black women in various roles.”

“Several terms have been used to describe exposure to this marginalization (Essed, 1991; Jackson et al., 2005; Woods Giscombé & Lobel, 2008).”

“Van den Broek ’ s (2014) argument that her respondents with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds were mistaken when they denied having suffered from racism is reminiscent of Philomena Essed ’ s earlier work (1990, 1991).”

“…how individuals perceive subtle racism is important because subtle racism presents a number of significant perceptual challenges (Bobo, Kluegel, & Smith, 1997; Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Crosby, Bromley, & Saxe, 1980; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000; Essed, 1991) that do not exist for blatant racism.”

“…racism in employment, education, media, and political discourses, from police and in public, to which the approximately 800,000 AfroDutch (roughly 5 percent of the population) in the Netherlands are subject (Boog, van Donselaar, and Rodrigues 2010; Essed 1991; Hondius 2009; van Dijk 2008).”

“Since the 1980s and 1990s, Black feminists (Crenshaw 1991; Davis 1981, 1989; Essed 1991; Hill Collins 1990; hooks 1981) have been calling for analyses that seek to understand how different categories of identity and structures of power, such as sexism, racism, ableism, and classism, are…”

“…de ce point de vue une mesure complémentaire utile pour décrire la discrimination dans une approche sans doute moins strictement définie mais qui reflète peut-être mieux la réalité quotidienne du sentiment de discrimination (Essed, 1991; sociétés contemporaines, 2008 ; Feagin,1991 ; Feagin,1980).”

“” Several studies on racism support participants’ recommendations, indicating that the stress experienced by victims is heightened when others downplay or doubt the reality of a racist incident (Essed, 1991; Harrell, 2000).”

“Our study is situated in a research field that focuses on ordinary people’s everyday responses to discrimination and stigma when dominant groups threaten their sense of self-respect and belonging (Essed 1991; Feagin 1991; Lamont and Fleming 2005; Slootman 2014).”

“The racism-related stress framework argues that racism can impact individuals directly, as well as indirectly, through the observations and accounts of others (Essed, 1991; Harrell, 2000).”

“Everyday micro-aggressions (Essed, 1991; Sue, 2010), such as racially offensive jokes, potentially fall within the scope of racism.”

“Using the voices of the BME women alongside existing research (Essed, 1991) exposes the way that the white washed society in which we operate labels Black women as deviants and misfits.”

“However, if a non-White adoptee woman was spared being treated as a sexual object, she may have encountered sexual harassment vicariously through her general knowledge of sexualized racialization or through the experiences of other women of color (see Essed, 1991).”

“Individual race-related stress is important to study, given the frequency and prevalence of interpersonal experiences of discrimination resulting in individual stress (R. Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999; Essed, 1991; Harrell, 2000; Jones, 1997; Utsey, 1999; Utsey & Ponterotto, 1996).”

“Feralization, according to this governmental discourse, shatters the ‘routine familiarity’ and ‘expectation’ of the ‘everyday’ (cf. Essed, 1991): feral beings are lurking in every corner, in every city, ready to strike.”

“Essed (1991) stated students ignoring or denying racist acts can become a common strategy to deny the existence of racism in a society.”

“Relying on individual vignettes of race and racism to advance the understanding of everyday racism (Essed 1991) in Poland, the article demonstrates that racialisation has always been part of the configuration of Polish society (Leszczyński 2020).”

“ideas concerned with the interplay of power and resistance: Essed’s (1991) theory of ‘everyday”

“In addition, intersectionality theory (Case, 2016; Crenshaw, 1989; Essed, 1991) has called our attention to the intersection of the social identities of gender and race, in which African American women experience racially and gendered oppression as both women and African American people…”

“The racerelated stress that people of color experience is not related to a singular event; it is ongoing from a sequence of multiple emotional injuries (Essed 1991).”

“Other scholars refer to ‘everyday racism and sexism’ (e.g. Essed, 1991).”

“Such is the nature of everyday racism, although, as Essed (1991), Noble (2005) and others have argued, these minute incivilities play a crucial role in determining the sense that one has of belonging, or not belonging, in the cultural and social life of the nation.”

“These identities are experienced collectively and are inseparable from one another [8].”

“…have made significant contributions toward understanding the ways in which racial subordination is manifested in language (Frankenberg, 1993; Morrison, 1992), through rhetorical silence (Clair, 1998; Crenshaw, 1997; Sue, 2015), and in everyday talk (Asante, 1998; Essed, 1991; Sue et al., 2007).”

“…emblematic of the everyday racism that pervades White middle-class discourses about cultural difference and social inequality in the United States (Essed, 1991; see also Brown, 1986a, 1986b; de Lepervanche, 1980; Goldberg, 1993, 1997; Sollors, 1986; van Dijk, 1993a, 1993b, 1998; Winant, 1994,…”

“Others (Essed,1991; van Dijk,1984) document through individuals’ personal narratives a decrease in the experience of overt racist acts and an increase in subtle or everyday racism.”

“Van Dijk, 1987; Essed, 1991; Wetherell and Potter, 1992; Verkuyten et al., 1994), there appears to be little known about how the ambivalence involved in modern racism becomes manifest in everyday discourse.”

“Black women’s experiences cannot be understood by examining race- and gender-based oppression in isolation from one another (Collins, 1990; Crenshaw, 1989; Essed, 1991).”

“…against black Africans – through unwitting prejudice, gestures, conversations, stereotypes, and seemingly subtle covert acts, namely, those social cognitions and social acts, processes that are recurrent and familiar in everyday life and become part of what is seen as normal (Essed, 1991).”

“Rather, those who perpetuate racism simultaneously hold negative assumptions and prejudicial attitudes about one’s cultural values and belief systems as well as other negative opinions and expectations that are based on one’s ethnic group membership (e.g., Essed, 1991).”

“This framework is also integral to critical race theory, as well as work on everyday racism such as that of Philomena Essed (1991), as well as with the notion of racism without racists as framed by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2010).”

“Last, a modern gender-related construct gaining attention within the psychological literature is gendered racism (Essed, 1991), which is a distinct form of oppression experienced as a result of the cumulative marginalization of one’s race and gender.”

“Essed (1991) argued that “everyday racism is racism, but not all racism is everyday racism. The concept of everyday racism counters the view . . . that racism is an individual problem, a question of ‘to be racist or not to be racist’” (p. 3). Everyday racism involves systematic, recurrent, and generalized familiar pra…”

“A similar set of social processes are arguably characterised by other authors in their discussion of ‘everyday racism’ (Essed 1991) and the subjective negotiation of this.”

“Everyday discrimination is typically routine and individual incidents are seemingly “minor,” with a focus on chronic interpersonal interactions (Essed 1991; Williams et al.”

“These situations involve the presence of ‘everyday racism’ (Essed, 1991), when routine practices of common people become characterized by the processes of exclusion that, while based on ethnic and racial grounds, are taken for granted and may pass unnoticed.”

“The observation itself might seem trivial, but the effects of subtle stereotypes can be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than those of overt racism (Essed, 1991).”

“In line with this, as many as 79% of the respondents cited resisting everyday racism (see Essed, 1991) as an important argument for joint political participation.”

“According to several researchers, subtle and ambiguous RD may be the most deleterious forms of RD in the post–Jim Crow era (e.g., Essed, 1991).”