negative ascription

/ˈnɛɡətɪv əˈskrɪpʃən/

noun phrase

  1. The act of attributing an undesirable quality, identity, motive, or social status to a person, group, or thing, often on the basis of characteristics such as class, race, gender, or appearance rather than individual actions.

    C1

    usually uncountable

    • "Negative ascription can make people feel excluded."B1
    • "The media's negative ascription of the politician's motives led to a public outcry."B2
    • "The study examines how negative ascription affects members of marginalized groups."B2
    • "Negative ascription reinforces social hierarchies by associating certain identities with supposedly inferior traits."C1

Collocations

negative social ascriptionascribe negative qualitiesnegative ascriptions of identity

Word family

ascribeascriptionascribed