Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1929011261 ISBN 13: 9781929011261

Publisher: Inst Research on Race & Public Policy, 2003

Synopsis

Why do Latinos with light skin complexions earn more than those with darker complexions? Why do African American women with darker complexions take longer to get married than their lighter counterparts? Why did Michael Jackson become lighter as he became wealthier and O.J. Simpson became darker when he was accused of murder? Why is Halle Berry considered a beautiful sex symbol, while Whoopi Goldberg is not? Skin Deep provides answers to these intriguing questions. It shows that although most white Americans maintain that they do not judge others on the basis of skin color, skin tone remains a determining factor in educational attainment, occupational status, income, and other quality of life indicators. Shattering the myth of the color-blind society, Skin Deep is a revealing examination of the ways skin tone inequality operates in America. The essays in this collection-by some of the nation's leading thinkers on race and colorism-examine these phenomena, asking whether skin tone differentiation is imposed upon communities of color from the outside or is an internally-driven process aided and abetted by community members themselves. The essays also question whether the stratification process is the same for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Skin Deep addresses such issues as the relationship between skin tone and self esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition. The essays in this accessible book also grapple with emerging issues such as biracialism, color-blind racism, and 21st century notions of race in the U.S. and in other countries.

About this title

From the Publisher

Skin tone has historically played a significant role in determining the life chances of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and other people of color. It has also been important to our understanding of race and the processes of racialization. But what does the relationship between skin tone and stratification outcomes mean? Is skin tone correlated with inequality because people with darker complexions experience more discrimination than those of the same race with lighter complexions? Is skin tone differentiation a process that operates external to communities of color and is then imposed on people of color externally? Or, is skin tone discrimination an internally driven process that is actively aided and abetted by members of communities of color themselves? Does the color stratification process work the same for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans?

Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era is an accessible, nontechnical volume that provides eye-opening answers to such questions, and brings clarity and insight to the role of race and skin complexion in the so-called color-blind era. In addition, it addresses issues such as the relationship between skin tone and self-esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition. In addition, Skin Deep examines the relationship between appearance and racial identity. It explains the "color complex" and how appearances are related to biracial identity. In particular, Skin Deep presents a discussion of research on phenotype and racial identity among biracial individuals. It also examines intraracial class distinctions and within-race attitudinal differences along the color spectrum. And finally, it examines some of the implications of colorism for our understanding of race in the 21st century.

From the Author

If you are a member of the educated and informed public who wants more insight into race, "color-blind" racism, biracialism, colorism, and other controversial issues, Skin Deep is the right book for you!

About this edition

• Publisher: Inst Research on Race & Public Policy
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1929011261
• ISBN 13: 9781929011261
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Herring Cedric, Keith Verna M., Horton Hayward Derrick