# Epistemic Injustice
**Domain:** Social epistemology / Institutional power
**Doc Type:** Developed Concept Node
**Maturity:** Developed
**Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]]
## Definition
**Epistemic injustice** is injustice done to someone in their capacity as a knower. Miranda Fricker's foundational account distinguishes **testimonial injustice**, in which prejudice produces an unfair credibility deficit, from **hermeneutical injustice**, in which unequal participation in shared interpretive resources leaves an experience difficult to understand or communicate.
## Significance
The concept names failures that occur before a claim reaches ordinary factual adjudication. A person may possess relevant experience yet lack the recognized vocabulary, standing, audience, or institutional route needed to make it intelligible. In a gamified system, scores, labels, virality, and automated classifications can magnify those unequal conditions.
Epistemic injustice is not a guarantee that a disputed belief is true. It concerns the fairness of credibility and meaning-making arrangements. Evidence evaluation and procedural repair remain necessary.
## Sources
- Miranda Fricker, [*Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing*](https://academic.oup.com/book/32817)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, [Epistemic Injustice](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemic-injustice/)
## Routes
[[wiki/Testimonial Injustice|Testimonial Injustice]] · [[wiki/Epistemic Injury|Epistemic Injury]] · [[articles/The Right to Know Reality|The Right to Know Reality]] · [[wiki/Representational Due Process|Representational Due Process]]