IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revepe/v3y2022i3d10.1007_s43253-022-00073-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Colorism and employment bias in India: an experimental study in stratification economics

Author

Listed:
  • Ramya M. Vijaya

    (Stockton University)

  • Naureen Bhullar

    (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore)

Abstract

In this paper, we examine whether the prevalence of colorism in India can be linked to discrimination in hiring for people with darker skin shades. Colorism or preference for lighter skin tones has a long history primarily linked to colonialism in parts of Asia and Africa. More recently, this preference for lighter skin has become amplified by growing and global whitening product industries dominated by multinational corporations. In India, the industry has tried to link lighter skin to economic success, specifically labor market success. However, the existence of such a link is yet to be explored given the lack of skin tone–specific data in the global context. We implemented an experimental survey design in India to overcome this lack of data. Participants in our study were asked to evaluate job candidates on the basis of unchanging resumes paired with photographs manipulated to vary skin tones. We did not find a statistically significant bias in favor of resumes paired with lighter-skinned photographs. Overall, participants tended to evaluate both lighter-skinned and darker-skinned candidates similarly. Our findings suggest that colorism in India cannot be easily linked to direct instances of hiring discrimination. Differential outcomes due to preference for skin color though might operate in other economic contexts beyond entry into employment. It may also exist in social contexts like marriage and family or health outcomes and in situations where beauty ideals are more relevant. Our findings provide an important counter-narrative to the skin whitening industry’s worrisome efforts to expand their consumer base by linking lighter skin to economic success. Our methodology also provides new directions for future research on colorism, an important new global frontier in stratification economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramya M. Vijaya & Naureen Bhullar, 2022. "Colorism and employment bias in India: an experimental study in stratification economics," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 599-628, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:3:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s43253-022-00073-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-022-00073-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43253-022-00073-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43253-022-00073-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arthur H. Goldsmith & Darrick Hamilton & William Darity Jr, 2006. "Shades of Discrimination: Skin Tone and Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 242-245, May.
    2. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    3. Marcos Rangel, 2015. "Is Parental Love Colorblind? Human Capital Accumulation within Mixed Families," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 57-86, June.
    4. Deshpande, Ashwani, 2011. "The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198072034.
    5. Mario L. Small & Devah Pager, 2020. "Sociological Perspectives on Racial Discrimination," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 49-67, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Merve Burnazoglu & Stefan Kesting & Franklin Obeng-Odoom & Alyssa Schneebaum, 2022. "Editorial introduction: REPE symposium on inequalities, social stratification, and stratification economics," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 375-377, July.
    2. Merve Burnazoglu & Stefan Kesting & Franklin Obeng-Odoom & Alyssa Schneebaum, 2022. "Introduction: Advancing Stratification Economics — methodological perspectives and policy applications," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 457-461, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Button, Patrick & Walker, Brigham, 2020. "Employment discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Principe, Francesco & van Ours, Jan C., 2022. "Racial bias in newspaper ratings of professional football players," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Eduardo M. Medina-Cortina, 2019. "Skin Color and Social Mobility: Evidence From Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 321-343, February.
    4. Pushkar Maitra & Ananta Neelim, 2024. "Discrimination in Developing Countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-03, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    5. McGinnity, Frances & Quinn, Emma & McCullough, Evie & Enright, Shannen, 2021. "Measures to combat racial discrimination and promote diversity in the labour market: A review of evidence," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT110, June.
    6. Ewens, Michael, 2022. "Race and Gender in Entrepreneurial Finance," SocArXiv djf8z, Center for Open Science.
    7. Deng, Weiguang & Li, Dayang & Zhou, Dong, 2019. "Beauty and Job Accessibility: New Evidence from a Field Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 369, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Ashwini Deshpande & Rajesh Ramachandran, 2013. "How Backward are the Other Backward Classes? Changing Contours of Caste Disadvantage in India," Working Papers id:5422, eSocialSciences.
    9. Yatish Kumar & Priya Bhakat, 2022. "Social Capital in Old-Age and the Role of the Social Marginalisation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 371-388, August.
    10. Ritwik Banerjee & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2015. "Awareness Programs and Change in Taste-Based Caste Prejudice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    11. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Gonzales, Gilbert & McKay, Tara & Sansone, Dario, 2020. "Effects of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Mandate on Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals in Same-Sex Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 13119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Smriti Rao & Smita Ramnarain, 2023. "Gender, Social Protection, and Crises of Social Reproduction: Contextualizing NREGA," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 70-92, March.
    13. Frances McGinnity & James Laurence & Emily Cunniffe, 2023. "Comparing migrant integration in Ireland and Northern Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS158, June.
    14. J. Michelle Brock & Ralph De Haas, 2023. "Discriminatory Lending: Evidence from Bankers in the Lab," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 31-68, April.
    15. Chhavi Tiwari & Srinivas Goli & Anu Rammohan, 2022. "Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2493-2529, December.
    16. Aksoy, Billur & Chadd, Ian & Koh, Boon Han, 2023. "Sexual identity, gender, and anticipated discrimination in prosocial behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Baert, Stijn & Picchio, Matteo, 2021. "A signal of (Train)ability? Grade repetition and hiring chances," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 867-878.
    18. Deshpande, Ashwini & Desrochers, Alain & Ksoll, Christopher & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2017. "The Impact of a Computer-based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 451-473.
    19. Banerjee, Ritwik & Gupta, Nabanita Datta & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2020. "Feedback spillovers across tasks, self-confidence and competitiveness," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 127-170.
    20. William Darity & Darrick Hamilton & James Stewart, 2015. "A Tour de Force in Understanding Intergroup Inequality: An Introduction to Stratification Economics," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 1-6, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Colorism; Stratification Economics; India; Experimental survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:3:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s43253-022-00073-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.