Micro inequities and everyday inequalities: Race, gender, sexuality and class in medical school

Medical students in the 1990s are heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, class and sexual orientation. Based on a survey of third-year students, student interviews, and faculty/ administrator interviews at one Canadian medical school, this paper goes beyond the identification of blatant forms of discrimination to examine micro level interactional practices of inclusion and exclusion that cumulatively convey messages about who does and who does not belong in medical school. These micro inequities and everyday inequalities construct an institutional climate that may marginalize and alienate some students, reproducing hierarchies of inequality despite the institution's express commitment to formal equality.