Hermeneutic injustice and troubling experiences of interactional inequality: a review

Abstract Social interaction is pervaded by troubling experiences of marginalization, discrimination, and injustice, yet people’s attempts to account for such experiences often encounter difficulties. In this article, we review findings from conversation analytic and discursive psychological research to illuminate these challenges. We summarize the findings regarding (1) the conditions under which troubling experiences of interactional inequality occur; (2) the stakes involved in accounting for such experiences; (3) the narrative and discursive resources used for making them culturally intelligible; and (4) the local consequences of talking about these experiences in different contexts. We draw on the notion of “hermeneutical injustice” as a framework to highlight the potential for social and societal critique embedded in these research findings. We argue that the difficulties in accounting for troubling experiences of interactional inequality are unevenly distributed, and that this injustice contributes to the reproduction of broader societal inequalities.