The phrase ‘impact over intent‘ gets lots of play in social justice circles. And for good reason. It helps us direct our attention away from the psychology of individuals and toward problems of sexism or racism out in the world. And since social justice groups – at least good social justice groups – want to fight sexism, racism, et al. in the world and not just in the head, they use ‘impact over intent’ as a part of their mission.
However, the phrase really only purports to do this. In something of an irony, the impact of ‘impact over intent’ often fails to live up to its lofty intentions.
And that’s the topic of this post. In the past, I’ve written about the limits of everything from universal design to lived experience to mobilizing. Let’s shift our attention to ‘impact over intent.’
