THE NEW INVISIBLE FACE OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RACE: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS AND MICROAGGRESSIONS

Abstract

There are strong indications that the nature of racial-based discrimination in the modern world has changed. Historically, although there have been decreases in old-fashioned or overt forms of racial or other types of discrimination, the views and concerns about the fact that the traditional racism or discriminatory attitudes has changed over time from overt to covert and subtle become increasing. In this sense, there is an increasing interest in the academic field towards the invisible, subtle, implicit or covert nature of racism. In fact, in this study, despite the fact that old-fashioned racist beliefs or attitudes have declined today, it is attempted to focus on explanatory conceptually schemas to understand the complex nature of discriminatory actions, which are often unconscious but sometimes consciously subtle, implicit or covert, as new racial-based discrimination. In other words, in the study, it is aimed to examine the contemporary forms of racial-based discriminatory attitudes and actions, at the conceptual level. In this respect, the study discusses the descriptive efforts to explain new or contemporary forms of racial-based discrimination in the literature and discusses in detail the concept or model of microaggressions as a new form of racial based discriminatory actions among them. Thus, it is thought that the study will contribute to the empirical researches which will be designed to examine racial or culture based discriminatory discourses and actions, which are often manifested more subtle, implicit or covert during the cultural interactions or encounters in many areas of everyday life, by presenting a theoretical or conceptual model or schema.