Derald Wing Sue
American counselling psychologist known for multicultural counselling and microaggression research
Professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He co-founded the Asian American Psychological Association and wrote Counseling the Culturally Diverse (1981) and, with co-authors, the 2007 American Psychologist paper on racial microaggressions.
Why this person matters
Sue is a leading author on multicultural counselling and gave educators and therapists a taxonomy for everyday racial slights. The concept has been widely used in training and also challenged on method, so it is a case of research that is influential and contested.
Main contributions
Multicultural counselling textbook
Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice first appeared in 1981 and reached a ninth edition in 2022, co-authored with David Sue, Helen Neville and Laura Smith.
Taxonomy of racial microaggressions
The 2007 American Psychologist paper, written with co-authors, sorted everyday racial slights into microassaults, microinsults and microinvalidations.
Professional leadership
He co-founded the Asian American Psychological Association and was its first president. He has led APA Divisions 17 and 45 and edited the Personnel and Guidance Journal.
Context and limits
In 2017 Scott Lilienfeld reviewed the microaggression literature in Perspectives on Psychological Science and argued that the concept was vague, that microassaults were not micro, that its ambiguity made it subjective, and that personality could explain some findings. He suggested replacing the term with perceived racial slight and called for stronger evidence. A published reply from Sue was not found in the sources used here.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.Appears in culture and diversity chapters on prejudice and counselling. Students meet microaggressions as a widely used term whose research basis is under discussion.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 16.5. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1981
Published Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice.
- 2003
Published Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation.
- 2007
Published Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice in American Psychologist.
- 2019
Received the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.
Sources
- Teachers College, Columbia University, Sue, Derald W. faculty profileUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- British Psychological Society Research Digest, summary of Lilienfeld's review of microaggression researchSociety or association. Text passages inspected.
- SAGE Encyclopedia of Counseling, Sue, Derald Wing (1942-)Publisher. Abstract inspected.
- Wikipedia, Derald Wing SueReference work. Reference article inspected.