The Shade of a Criminal Record: Colorism, Incarceration, and External Racial Classification

Authors

Steven L. Foy, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Victor Ray, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Ashley Hummel, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2017

Abstract

Recent high-profile research suggests that social indicators like incarceration influence racial categorization. Yet, this research has largely ignored colorism—intraracial differences in skin tone that matter for stratification outcomes. In two experiments, we address how skin tone interacts with criminal background to produce external racial classification and skin tone attributions. We find no evidence that criminal history affects external racial classification or skin tone attribution. However, we find that skin tone is a strong and consistent predictor of external racial classification and skin tone attribution.

Comments

© 2017 The Author(s). Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2378023116689567

Recommended Citation

Foy, S. L., Ray, V., & Hummel, A. (2017). The Shade of a Criminal Record: Colorism, Incarceration, and External Racial Classification. Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023116689567

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Publication Title

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

DOI

10.1177/2378023116689567