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-skinned complexion. Kerr’s
(2005) research into colorism revealed the historical relevance of colorism,
particularly drawing connections to the antebellum period of the United States
and the valuation of slaves. Slaves of darker complexion were often field
slaves, whose darker complexions were a reflection of working outside and under
extreme heat. Slaves of a lighter complexion were associated with working in
“the main house,” serving the slave master’s household. Slaves of this
complexion were also assumed to be the byproduct of sexual relations between
white slaveowners or laypersons and Black slaves.
This system of value for
lighter-skinned Black persons over darker-skinned Black persons carried over
into what African American folklore refers to as the “paper bag principle.”
This concept explores how intragroup relations are understood around the value placed
on whiteness within a racial group, particularly in this case, African
Americans. Kerr (2005) described how in African American culture a paper bag
was used to measure the skin tone of a Black person to determine their
acceptance in various social groups. Passing the paper bag test involved being
lighter than a paper bag. Due to the associations with lighter skin and
competency, lighter skin was more preferred for various forms of high society
groups. In the late 19th century and into the 20th century,
African Americans of a lighter complexion were deemed acceptable to engage in
the company of white people, as long as these individuals met behavioral
expectations of their white hosts. This preference for lighter-skinned
individuals has been evident in African American history among Black Greek
Letter Organizations, where membership for some of these groups was viewed as
elitist based on the paper bag rule.
Colorism is a relevant phenomena in
intragroup relations beyond its application in the African American community.
Examples of colorism exist in other racial and ethnic groups where white people
are the dominant racial group. Bleaching is often referenced as an adaptive
strategy within marginalized racial and ethnic groups to mediate discrimination
and gain favor or value within one’s in-group as well as potentially with
out-group members. Colorism also adds stress to group members to validate their
membership within their cultural group. While being lighter-skinned can appear
to allow members to face less prejudice and racism, the intragroup dynamics of
this appearance can also cause in-group members to believe these
lighter-skinned individuals are not as connected to their in-group identity,
requiring lighter-skinned individuals to prove how ethnic they truly are.
REFERNCES
Hunter, M. (2016). Colorism in the classroom: How skin tone stratifies African American and Latina/o students. Theory Into Practice, 55, 54-61. DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2016.1119019
Kahn, K.B.; Goff,
P.A.; Lee, J.K.; & Motamed, D. (2016). Protecting whiteness: White
phenotypic racial stereotypicality reduces police use of force. Social
Psychological and Personality Science, 7(5), 403-411.
Kerr, A.E. (2005).
The paper bag principle: Of the myth and the motion of colorism. The Journal
of American Folklore, 118(469), 271-289.
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