Click here to see the slides for my presentation at Uni Copenhagen.

Abstract: Liberal democracies formally prohibit discrimination, yet it remains a persistent social problem. Prevailing clinical and instrumental frameworks focus on detecting and explaining discrimination as an objective phenomenon, but do not systematically theorize a primary cause of its persistence: the societal struggle over its very definition and prevalence. This article develops the theory of Contested Discrimination to explain this process. The theory is built on three interconnected pillars: (1) a model of the contested definition, AIPPAH, which maps the six dimensions (Attribution, Injustice, Partiality, Public, Asymmetry, Harm) that structure definitional debates; (2) a theory of the contested reality, the Dynamic of Perceptual Divergence, which explains how a minority’s improving legal and socioeconomic position can widen the perceptual gap with the majority while increasing internal disagreement within the majority itself; and (3) a model of the primary contested arenas (citizen subgroups, discourse, policy regime), where the struggle between actors is skewed by Blueprint Asymmetry, and dynamics between arenas create misalignments that sustain Contested Discrimination. The theory recasts discrimination as an enduring site of dynamic tension rather than a pathology with a definitive solution, generating a range of testable hypotheses and providing a novel and generalizable framework for future research into the persistence of group-based disadvantage in diverse societies.