Thoughts on Colorism from a Social Psychology Lens
Kahn et al.’s (2016) research on the evaluation of whiteness in regards to police officers’ use of force highlights the social capital whiteness has in American society. This research also exposes the role of colorism in intergroup and intragroup engagements. Similar to the concept of phenotypic racial stereotypicality, colorism is also an exploration of implicit and explicit bias related to the skin tone of marginalized racial groups (Hunter, 2016). Colorism is not limited to solely the physical characteristics of skin tone, often including other physical characteristics such as hair, body composition, and facial features (Kerr, 2005). Hunter (2016) establishes that colorism is a subsection of structural racism with an emphasis on highlighting the valuation of skin tone particularly within African American and Latinx communities. Hunter (2016) asserts that the discrimination a member of either group faces can be intensified due to a darker skin tone and moderated due to a lighter-skin...
