Recommended Citation

Danieli Evans, Institutionalized Ostracism, 29 Mich. J. Race & L. 155 (2025), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/1123

Authors

Danieli Evans, University of Washington School of LawFollow

Institutionalized Ostracism

Publication Title

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Keywords

ostracism, discrimination

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Belonging is a fundamental need, like food or water. Hundreds of social psychology studies find that people who are ostracized (excluded, rejected, or ignored) experience severe pain and suffering. Ostracism threatens basic needs, triggers the same neurocognitive processing system as physical pain, and impairs functioning. Furthermore, ostracized people may cope in ways that beget “deviant” labeling and further ostracism.

Belonging and ostracism are prevalent themes in social psychology research, but these constructs have received relatively little attention in law. This Article begins to explore the implications of this research for law. I make three contributions: First, I name and describe the phenomenon of “institutionalized ostracism”: When government institutions ostracize people in ways that threaten their sense of belonging. This institutionalized ostracism is mostly lawful under current anti-discrimination law. Second, I draw from social psychology literature to explain why institutionalized ostracism is so harmful—in some ways comparable to physical violence. Third, I identify and critique several ways in which current jurisprudence supports and facilitates institutionalized ostracism. In discussing these, I make some preliminary suggestions as to how our jurisprudence ought to attend to the harm of ostracism.