Ethnic Cues, Latino Skin Tone, and Voter Preferences: An Experimental Test

Ben Anderson; Garrett Bird; Richard Kornrumpf; Maria Macaluso; Natasha Mundkur; Madison Swingholm; Jason Gainous

doi:10.1111/ssqu.12845

Ethnic discrimination during résumé screening: Interactive effects of applicants’ ethnic salience with job context

Human Relations ◽

10.1177/0018726716676537 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 70 (7) ◽

pp. 860-882 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Eva Derous ◽

Roland Pepermans ◽

Ann Marie Ryan

Keyword(s):

Interactive Effect ◽

Skin Tone ◽

Ethnic Discrimination ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Systematic Research ◽

Hiring Discrimination ◽

Light Skin ◽

White Majority ◽

Ethnic Cues ◽

Job Context

Systematic research considering job context as affecting ethnic discrimination in hiring is limited. Building on contemporary literature on social categorization and cognitive matching, the interactive effect of context characteristics (client contact; industry status) and person characteristics (i.e. ethnic cues: Maghreb/Arab vs Flemish-sounding name; dark vs light skin tone) were investigated using an experimental field study among 424 white majority HR professionals. Findings showed that equally qualified applicants with a dark skin tone received lower job suitability ratings than applicants with a light skin tone, particularly when they were screened for high client contact/low industry status positions and low client contact/high industry status positions. It is concluded that some ethnic cues (such as skin tone) may be more salient compared with other cues and that job context may influence the salience of ethnic cues and steer hiring discrimination in subtle ways. Implications of these findings for hiring discrimination research and organizations are discussed.

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

The Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics ◽

10.1017/rep.2016.6 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 227-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

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.

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Do African Voters Favor Coethnics? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Benin

Journal of Experimental Political Science ◽

10.1017/xps.2014.26 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Claire L. Adida

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Groups ◽

Experimental Test ◽

Real World ◽

Political Support ◽

Independent Effect ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Political Actor ◽

Ethnic Cues ◽

Mixed Ethnicity

AbstractCan African politicians play the ethnic card? Ethnicity matters for a host of outcomes in Africa, but debate remains about the extent to which it motivates the African voter. In experimental settings, we know that ethnicity shapes political support for hypothetical candidates. This paper offers an experimental test of the extent to which ethnicity shapes political support for actual, real-world politicians. Relying on Benin’s mixed-ethnicity President, this paper proposes a survey experiment that measures the independent effect of coethnic cues in boosting support across both coethnic groups. The results reveal that coethnic cues work: the same political actor can draw support from two different ethnic groups based solely on subtle ethnic cues.

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