2022/11/04 by Amelia R. Branigan, Matthew Hall, Matthew S. Hall
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Audit #Demographic economics #Demography #Economic growth #Economics #Ethnic group #Gender studies #Housing discrimination #Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research #Political science #Privilege (computing) #Psychology #Race (biology) #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Racism #Renting #Skin color #Social psychology #Socioeconomic status #Sociology #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/01902725221129624
openalex publication_date 2022/11/04 · crossref created 2022/11/04 · crossref issued 2023/08/19 · crossref published 2023/08/19 · crossref published-online 2023/08/19 · crossref published-print 2023/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Although sociological research on colorism has affirmed an association between lighter skin and socioeconomic advantage, causal estimates of discrimination are challenging to generate outside of experimental contexts. Using data from an audit study conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, we present field experimental evidence of colorism in the rental housing market for Black and Hispanic Americans, demonstrating variation in discrimination by the race of the agent, race of the renter, and the outcome in question. Our findings suggest that a macrosocial preference for lighter skin has the potential to translate into microsocial interactions in more complicated ways than a consistent light-skin privilege, emphasizing the need to better understand how color-based discrimination operates in the lived contexts where interventions might be possible. Results also suggest that discrimination by skin color may reflect varied processes by race and ethnicity, necessitating an understanding of colorism as inherently intersectional.