A contemporary Kleinian contribution to understanding racism.

This article applies a contemporary Kleinian understanding to the problem of racism and, in particular, to microaggressions. The article contributes to the social work literature on racism by (1) moving closer to an explanatory model of the relation between the social and the psyche; (2) adding depth and structure to the concept of unconscious racism; and (3) highlighting a range of Kleinian concepts, such as projection, projective identification, splitting, developmental positions, envy, and reparation, that contribute to understanding the internal and external dimensions of racialized encounters. The dynamic interaction of the psyche and the social is central to understanding racism and to effective antiracist intervention strategies.