Is Only Fair Lovely in Indian Politics? Consequences of Skin Color in a Survey Experiment in Delhi

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Ahuja ◽  
Susan L. Ostermann ◽  
Aashish Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Color Preferences ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Significance Levels

AbstractAdoration for fair skin color and bias against dark skin color are strong in Indian society. The theory of colorism suggests that, irrespective of a voter’s own phenotype, voters prefer lighter- to darker-skinned candidates. And yet, a substantial number of dark-skinned politicians get elected into office in India. In the first systematic study of voter preferences for candidate skin color in India, we conducted a survey experiment in which respondents were randomly administered one of three treatments based upon candidate skin tone: fair, wheatish (medium-brown), and dark. We find only weak evidence for colorism in the sample as a whole—the fair candidate is supported more than the dark and wheatish candidates, but at only marginal significance levels. This is because color preferences are heterogeneous amongst respondent groups. Dalits and the poor, groups that are darker relative to other groups and have been politically mobilized, exhibit much stronger support for dark candidates than other groups, consistent with a desire for descriptive representation. Amongst those who do not belong to these two groups, including dark respondents, the fair candidate finds more support than the dark candidate. This shows that even in the absence of skin color-based electoral appeals, skin color can emerge as an implicit marker of politically mobilized identities, and that this mobilization can undercut colorism.

My Skin Color Is Not Mi Pecado

2021 ◽  
pp. 156-168
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Dark Skin

This chapter revealed itself as the title of the author's dissertation because of the binary mentality that thrives throughout our country and in our personal experience. On the author's first days after arriving in the United States, she was asked where she had her tanning done. She had never heard such a thing while she was growing up in Mexico nor did she think that she had dark skin because she had always considered herself Blanca/White. It did not mean that during her early twenties she could not see color, just that appearances did not matter as much as the treatment toward her. She was raised by those whose skin color also caused them to be labeled here in the United States as Moreno/Black. The ones who raised her were a Mexican medical pastor and a Güera/White Mexican, nurse, and housewife, and they referred to her, their precious youngster, simply as Brown or—as she likes to call her skin tone—café con leche/milk with coffee. The participants in the study also related that they have faced microaggressions and—in some instances—their professional tenure was in jeopardy.

An Ethnographic Investigation of Women’s Perception and Cognition Regarding Skin Color in Pakistan

Anthropos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-416
Author(s):  
Subaita Zubair ◽  
Urwah Ali ◽  
Zuba’a Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Mate Selection ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Late Adolescents ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Depth Interviews

The ethnographic study tends to explore female perception concerning diverse skin colors and different connotations associated with it in Pakistan’s society. It is intended to highlight preferable and judgmental cognitions attached with gender skin tone by exploring the reasons which propagate this kind of thinking in culture. A qualitative methodology of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions was employed. The sample included late adolescents (aged 18-24) and early adults (24-34) from the area of Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Pakistan). Purposive sampling was applied and thematic analysis was used as a qualitative paradigm. The number of respondents comprised of 15 females of which 5 were gym-goers. This culture has its biased and paradoxical ways when it comes to expectations and objectification genders face with regard to body image, particularly skin complexion. Schemas and biased standards play their role when it comes to judging people on their appearance and attractiveness. Conclusively, according to our study, fair color, attractive looks, and appealing personality always received more favors than obese, dark skin colored sexes. Fair complexion is assumed to open gates to opportunities and incredible chances for females, especially when it comes to mate selection or matrimony.

scholarly journals Pemphigus Vulgaris in a Black Patient: Early Recognition of Disease Saves Lives

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
María A. Rodríguez-Santiago ◽  
Javier García-Marín ◽  
Alfredo Lamela-Domenech ◽  
María Vega-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Early Recognition ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
Pemphigus Vulgaris ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Rapid Progression ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Literature Highlight ◽  
Dark Skin Tone

There is a well-known shortage of racial diversity in medical textbooks and literature contributing to race-based health care inequalities1. We present the case of a black puertorrican 58-year-old female who developed a painful non-pruritic blistering ulcer in the inner oral mucosa with associated erythema six months prior to the evaluation. She was misdiagnosed on multiple occasions leading to a rapid progression of the disease, and subsequently, her death. Lack of images in medical textbooks and scarce literature describing initial presentation per-skin-tone of Pemphigus Vulgaris (PV) in patients with dark skin color led to misdiagnosis, delay in treatment, and thus, this catastrophic outcome. This case report describes the appearance of PV in patients with dark skin tone and serves as an educational resource by providing images of a rare skin disease in people with dark skin. The purpose of this case report is to fill major gaps in medical literature, highlight the importance of timely recognizing PV in patients with dark skin, and to create awareness among physicians.

scholarly journals Darker shades of “fairness” in India: Male attractiveness and colorism in commercials

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-248
Author(s):  
Sayantan Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Television Commercials ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
Light Skin ◽  
Indian Men ◽  
Skin Lightening

AbstractThe skin-lightening products for men in India and their mode of advertising have been shaping the concept of attractiveness for Indian men by portraying lighter skin tone as the most fundamental quality of being attractive, always desirable, and successful. Although women’s skin-lightening products in India have received attention by a few scholars lately, men’s products are still underresearched. Hence, this study aims to investigate the issue of colorism augmented by television commercials for men’s “fairness” (light skin tone) products in India. The primary data for this study are six Hindi television commercials for men’s skin-lightening products which were broadcast from 2005 to 2015 and were available on YouTube during data collection. The commercials are by one popular brand, Emami Fair and Handsome. The target commercials are significant for their categorical distinction in directness as well as for their nature of storytelling that helps facilitate the discourse of colorism itself. The methodology is a combination of multimodal analysis, critical discourse analysis, and advertisement analysis. The overall goal of this study is to bring visibility to this subtle and multilayered problem of colorism in Indian society which is being reinforced by the skin-lightening products for men.

President Obama and the Emergence of Islamophobia in Mass Partisan Preferences

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110072
Author(s):  
Michael Tesler
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Independent Predictor ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Significant Independent Predictor ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Panel Surveys ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Relationship

This article argues that the unusually large and persistent association between Islamophobia and opposition to President Obama helped make attitudes about Muslims a significant, independent predictor of Americans’ broader partisan preferences. After detailing the theoretical basis for this argument, the article marshals repeated cross-sectional data, two panel surveys, and a nationally representative survey experiment, to test its hypotheses. The results from those analyses show the following: (1) attitudes about Muslims were a significantly stronger independent predictor of voter preferences for congress in 2010–2014 elections than they were in 2004–2008; (2) attitudes about Muslims were a significantly stronger independent predictor of mass partisanship during Obama’s presidency than they were beforehand; and (3) experimentally connecting Obama to Democratic congressional candidates significantly increased the relationship between anti-Muslim sentiments and Americans’ preferences for Republican congressional candidates. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for American politics in the Trump era.

Layers of Inequality: Unequal Opportunities and Skin Color in Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110441
Author(s):  
Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco ◽  
Roberto Vélez-Grajales ◽  
Gastón Yalonetzky
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Parental Wealth ◽  
Unequal Opportunities ◽  
Total Inequality ◽  
Total Wealth ◽  
A Share

We document the contribution of skin color toward quantifying inequality of opportunity over a proxy indicator of wealth. Our Ferreira–Gignoux estimates of inequality of opportunity as a share of total wealth inequality show that once parental wealth is included as a circumstance variable, the share of inequality of opportunity rises above 40%, overall and for every age cohort. By contrast, the contribution of skin tone to total inequality of opportunity remains minor throughout.

Rejecting Ethnic Pandering in Urban Africa: A Survey Experiment on Voter Preferences in Nairobi, Kenya

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110405
Author(s):  
Hye-Sung Kim ◽  
Jeremy Horowitz
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Urban Africa ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Vignette Experiment

Ethnic pandering, in which candidates promise to cater to the interests of coethnic voters, is presumed to be an effective strategy for increasing electoral support in Africa’s emerging multiethnic democracies. However, ethnic political mobilization may be disdained by citizens for its divisive and polarizing effects, particularly in urban areas. As a result, pandering may fall on deaf ears among Africa’s urban voters. This study examines how voters in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, respond to ethnic pandering using data from a vignette experiment conducted in 2015 and a replication study implemented in 2016. Results show that respondents are more supportive of candidates who make ethnically inclusive rather than targeted appeals, regardless of whether the candidate is identified as a coethnic. We propose that the results are driven by a broad distaste among urban voters for parochial politics, rather than by strategic calculations related to candidate viability.

Egg Donation and Exotic Beauty

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Deomampo
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Egg Donation ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Indian Women ◽  
Egg Donor ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Donor Egg ◽  
Biological Race ◽  
Racial Hierarchies

Chapter 3 analyzes constructions of skin color and race in intended parents’ narratives about the experience of selecting an egg donor. This chapter shows how egg donors of different backgrounds are differently valued, bolstering social hierarchies. At the same time, the chapter describes the diversity of ways that intended parents approach race and skin tone when choosing an egg donor. In contrast to dominant assumptions that intended parents seek donors who match their own ethnic backgrounds in order to reproduce whiteness, the process of egg donation represented an opportunity for many intended parents to subvert racial hierarchies by selecting Indian donors with darker skin tones. The chapter argues that such narratives, however, misrecognize donor egg selection as an opening to challenge racial hierarchies; instead, such decisions rely on essentialized notions of race and beauty that exoticize Indian women and reflect new articulations of biological race.

15884 Under-representation of dark skin tone in general dermatology textbooks

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. AB49
Author(s):  
Fiatsogbe S. Dzuali ◽  
Connie Zhong ◽  
Joe K. Tung ◽  
Ernesto Gonzalez-Martinez ◽  
Sotonye Imadojemu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Tone ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Dark Skin Tone
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document