What are micro-confirmations?

Micro-confirmations are tiny validations confirming that our white skin belongs here in our society.

As white people, we have it constantly confirmed to us that we belong here. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we see white faces staring back at us. Journalists and presenters; people in films, TV shows and advertisements; doctors and scientists; solicitors, barristers and judges; teachers, headteachers and educational directors; people in history books and childrens’ books; on and on it goes, white people everywhere. Seeing ourselves regularly represented in society acts as confirmation that we belong.

I call these micro-confirmations.

Think of micro-confirmations like this. As white people, you and I begin every day with dozens of imaginary tick-boxes in our minds. They’re empty, waiting to be filled. Throughout the day, every time we see another white person a tiny tick appears in the tick-box. That tick silently confirms to us that “we belong here”. It acts as a tiny, or micro, confirmation. It confirms that our white skin belongs in our society.

Over the course of the day, these invisible ticks add up. Over the weeks, months and years too. They constantly confirm that you are part of Britain. They leave you with an undeniable sense that your skin colour belongs in society.

We have it constantly confirmed that we belong

On top of our white skin being everywhere, many products are designed for our skin type too. Think plasters, makeup, ‘nude’ colour tights and shoes. Furthermore, as skin colour and hair type are often linked, these confirmations extend to hair care too. We see plenty of shampoos, conditioners and hair treatments for white people. This is all around us. Wander down any high street and you’ll see hair, beauty and fashion shops that cater exclusively for white people.

White skin is the default setting

So, as white people, everywhere we go we receive these micro-confirmations. They steadily remind us that we belong. Because we regularly see ourselves represented in advertisements, the media, politics, sport, history books, school curricula, and so on. We are left with no doubt that whiteness is the norm, the standard, the default setting.

Seeing whiteness as the default setting leads us to normalise it. It’s so normal in fact, that most of us have probably never even considered it. We don’t notice it and we think it’s nothing special.

Whiteness is over represented

And yes, Britain is predominantly a white country. But the representation of whiteness in our lives is overly high.

Data from the 2011 census states that white people make up 86% of the British population. This means that, if races were represented proportionally we would expect to see white people 86% of the time.

But the actual representation is much higher than that, particularly in positions of power. For example, 94% of Conservative party MPs are white and 90% of all MPs are white. This is far greater than the population they are elected to serve.

In 2020 a study found that of the top 1,097 most powerful roles in the UK, over 95% were held by white people. This is much greater than the 86% of white people in the general population. These roles included government ministers, chief constables, council leaders, trade union bosses and chief executives of financial firms.

What this means is that white people are overrepresented, particularly in positions of power. So, in senior levels in politics, the media, sport, business, music, the arts and science we see predominantly white faces.

Conversely, black people and people of colour do not see themselves represented as often in our society. This is particularly true in positions of power.

Blackness and browness are under represented

If whiteness is over represented then this means that blackness and brownness must be under represented.

So, black and brown people are not adequately represented in our society. We do not see thousands of brown faces in the media, politics, the law, sports and so on. In fact, BAME representation in the media actually fell in 2021 to 11.8%. This was despite commitments from all major UK broadcasters to improve diversity following the Black Lives Matter protests.

There are some notable exceptions, of course. In men’s Premier League football, for example, an estimated 1 in 4 players are black or minority ethnic. This makes up 25% of players, which is higher than the 14% you would expect to see. In this small niche BAME men are slightly overrepresented. But that over-representation ends as soon as you leave the pitch and head to the manager’s office. In over 30 years of the Premier League, there have been only 10 black managers. This is a gross underrepresentation of the general population.

And football is only 1 small part of society. In other parts, you see small or no representation of BAME people, particularly at senior levels.

But what does this mean?

People of colour do not receive as many micro-confirmations

Well, it means that black people and people of colour do not receive the everyday micro-confirmations that you and I do. They do not have it constantly confirmed that they belong. In fact, the absence of their representation leaves them feeling like they don’t belong.

But why does this matter?

Why does feeling like you belong in your own society matter? Does it really make any material difference? Well, yes, it does matter. It does make a material difference. Feeling like you belong is very important.

Imagine living in Britain as a white person, but being a minority

In order that we can understand the impact of micro-confirmations, let’s imagine living in Britain and not receiving them every day. Fortunately, we don’t have to work too hard to imagine this as Malorie Blackman has done so already in her brilliant Noughts and Crosses novels and TV show.

In Noughts and Crosses, Malorie Blackman has imagined a world slightly different to ours. Much of it is the same as today: technology, media, jobs, healthcare etc. However, there’s one key difference; history. Instead of Europeans colonising Africa in the past, Africans have colonised Europe.

In the Noughts and Crosses world, black people occupy the upper class, and white people work as their servants. Africans are the richest, while white people struggle with poverty. Black people dominate the media, politics, sports, science and the arts. Everywhere you go, you see black people doing important things.

This creates subtle differences in culture, too. For example, Callum and his family are white. They wear clothes made from brightly coloured African prints. Callum braids his hair in professional cornrows when he joins the army. When he cuts himself Sephy puts a brown coloured plaster on him — one that would blend in with her skin tone, but stands out on his.

Would you feel like you belonged in this world?

The Noughts and Crosses books get us thinking, as they’re supposed to. I couldn’t help but ask myself, as a white person, would I feel like I belonged in this society? Would I feel out of place? Like I didn’t matter? Like society wasn’t meeting my needs? Would I feel ostracised in my own homeland?

For me, the answers to those questions would be yes.

Why micro-confirmations matter

This is the point. This is why micro-confirmations matter. Because, if I was not properly represented in society then I would feel like I didn’t belong. I would feel unwanted and out of place. And I wouldn’t want that.

But back in the real world, this doesn’t happen for those of us with white skin. We don’t have to worry about whether or not our skin colour belongs. We have it confirmed to us all the time. Having white skin leaves us with a sense that we belong here.

Feeling like we belong is not a zero-sum game. It’s not like pizza where only 8 people can have a slice. There is a potentially limitless supply of this feeling. So, it would be possible to create a society in which we all felt like we belonged.

Summary and conclusion

In this article, I’ve introduced the concept of micro-confirmations. These are tiny validations that we white people get every day confirming that our skin colour belongs in society. They are little ticks in invisible tick boxes telling us that ‘our white skin belongs here’.

In contrast, black people and people of colour do not receive micro-confirmations. This is because they are under-represented in society. This means that millions of black and brown people in this country feel like they don’t belong.

Micro-confirmations matter because they leave us feeling like we belong. At the same time, they exclude black people and people of colour. Feeling like we belong is not a zero-sum game. There is a potentially limitless supply of this feeling. So, it would be possible to create a society in which we all felt like we belonged.

Thanks for reading.

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