Book contents
- Mental Illness Stigma and the Moral and Social Community
- Mental Illness Stigma and the Moral and Social Community
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 An Overview of Mental Illness Stigma
- Chapter 2 The Wrongfulness of Stereotypes
- Chapter 3 How Stereotypes Shape Self and Identity
- Chapter 4 Internalized Stigma and Adaptive Preferences
- Chapter 5 Social Exclusion and Harms to the Relational Self
- Chapter 6 Harms of Discrimination and Microaggressions
- Chapter 7 Interventions to Address Stigma
- References
- Index
Chapter 6 - Harms of Discrimination and Microaggressions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2026
Book contents
- Mental Illness Stigma and the Moral and Social Community
- Mental Illness Stigma and the Moral and Social Community
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 An Overview of Mental Illness Stigma
- Chapter 2 The Wrongfulness of Stereotypes
- Chapter 3 How Stereotypes Shape Self and Identity
- Chapter 4 Internalized Stigma and Adaptive Preferences
- Chapter 5 Social Exclusion and Harms to the Relational Self
- Chapter 6 Harms of Discrimination and Microaggressions
- Chapter 7 Interventions to Address Stigma
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 6 examines what makes discrimination and microaggressions (as a form of discrimination) wrongful. Discrimination involves differential treatment where some people are treated in different, unequal, and worse ways compared to others, and where that differential treatment is based on possessing a socially undesirable trait that marks a person as bad and inferior. Discrimination is wrongful because it harms people in a variety of ways, impacting their circumstances, resources and opportunities, options, agency, autonomy, and well-being. It causes material disadvantage and distributive injustice that denies people access to resources and opportunities and prevents them from having the basic goods necessary to participation in society. It also demeans people and leads to unfair subordination, loss of deliberative freedom, and decreased autonomy. This chapter reviews the philosophical literature on discrimination to provide a pluralistic account of the many harms discrimination and microaggressions cause to people with mental illness, which altogether make discrimination wrongful.
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- Mental Illness Stigma and the Moral and Social Community , pp. 178 - 204Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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