Implicit Bias, Microaggression, and Bullying

Abstract

This contribution to the symposium focuses on implicit bias, microaggression, and bullying. These forms of conduct are oppressive and have their most egregious effects on scholars who might be said to be on the “margins”1 of the discipline, including racial and ethnic minorities; women of all races and ethnicities; the LGBTQþ identified; (especially new) immigrants; individuals living with disabilities; and others whose identities are despised or devalorized bymanymembers of dominant social groups.2 The analysis draws on extant research and an exploratory study that includes a survey3 and elite interviews conducted during the summer and early fall of 2021.4 This study asks whether and to what extent there is a systemic problem of implicit bias, microaggression, and bullying that political science scholars must negotiate. To be sure, extant studies have addressed related questions. Mershon and Walsh (2015, 459) have reported that “pervasive stereotypes are perpetuated by the attitudes and practices of both women and men, who reward those who hew most closely to white, heterosexual, masculine, and middle-class norms.”Hesli Claypool and Mershon (2016) explored the relationship between the degree of departmental diversity and the friendliness, collegiality, and productivity of the associated faculty. A 2017 American Political Science Association (APSA) survey indicated that approximately one third of respondents had experienced some form of harassment during the previous four APSA Annual Meetings (Sapiro and Campbell 2018). Our study, based on a national survey and elite interviews, broadened the investigation beyond the annual meetings to cover the climate and context within departments. It also deepened the inquiry by reporting the testimony of individuals who accepted the survey’s invitation to provide detailed narratives in open-ended replies.