Everyday Racism and The Workplace

Unlike overt, major events of racism, “everyday racism” is a covert form of racism that manifests through informal social interactions, particularly so in the workplace. When we think of “racism”, we typically think of overt, major examples that are easily recognised. The current Asian-hate observed in the US related to COVID-19, and examples of police brutality towards Black people are examples of covert and visible racism. While the media focuses more on these incidents of racism, many are unaware of the more subtle, implicit form of racism that Dutch sociologist Philomena Essed terms “everyday racism”. Everyday racism refers to the subtler and more casual form of racism that is implicitly weaved into the informal social interactions that permeate society and extends into the workplace. It is often invisible to the perpetrator and sometimes even the recipient. While overt racism is easily noticed and driven by clear intent, everyday racism often goes unnoticed and unaddressed – particularly within the workplace.  

Everyday racism, such as micro aggressions, often goes unnoticed which leads to its normalisation and reinforcement. In the workplace, victims of such casual racism may feel gaslighted when attempting to bring it up to line managers or HR, being told that they are “taking it too seriously”, or “imagining racism”. The normalisation of everyday racism can lead victims to internalise those beliefs and result in both reduced self-confidence and ability to perform well in one’s job. Victims may fail to report such incidents due to a lack of awareness on what constitutes appropriate behaviour, or for fear of being labelled a “trouble-maker”. Research on the experiences of Black migrant nurses in Australia highlights that there was a general neglect and dismissal of their experiences of everyday racism which was predominantly inflicted by other nurses (see, Mapedzahama et al., 2012). This general neglect further reinforces their racialisation. The concept is very similar to the idea of institutional racism, though Essed's term seeks to encapsulate the way that discrimination is perpetuated through the whole of society and combines both individual action and institutional structures. 

It is important to understand that everyday informal interactions shape the social dynamics of inequality within organisations. Given that leaders play an active role in shaping these interactions, they inadvertently contribute to the reproduction or reduction of these inequalities. While diversity initiatives such as legislation and anti-discrimination policies are key to facilitating structural changes within organisations - organisational culture, poor incident handling and leaders’ inaction constitute barriers to the effective implementation of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. Line Managers, Human Resources, as well as those in senior positions in the organisation, must therefore be considered as strategic actors and held accountable in shaping the interactions and organisational culture that either reproduces or reduces inequalities.