2017/05/19 by Angela R. Dixon, Edward E. Telles, Edward Telles · 14 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Social and Intergroup Psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053315
openalex publication_date 2017/05/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We examine a vast, interdisciplinary, and increasingly global literature concerning skin color and colorism, which are related to status throughout the world. The vast majority of research has investigated Western societies, where color and colorism have been closely related to race and racism. In Latin America, the two sets of concepts have particularly overlapped. In the rest of the world, particularly in Asia, color and colorism have also been important but have evolved separately from the relatively new concepts of race and racism. In recent years, however, color consciousness and white supremacy appear to have been increasingly united, globalized, and commodified, as exemplified by the global multibillion-dollar skin-lightening industry. Finally, we document the growing methodological attention to measurements of skin color and social science data that incorporate skin color measures.