Skin Color and Colorism: Global Research, Concepts, and Measurement
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Colourism occurs both within and across racialised groups.
“Intrinsically related to, and yet distinct from racism (i.e., prejudice and discrimination based on racialised), colourism occurs both within and across racialised groups (Dixon and Telles, 2017).”
From Skin shade and relationships: how colourism pits Black and mixed Black-White women against each other (2024) · cites this paper as Dixon and Telles, 2017
Colourism can affect people differently according to their ethnicity and gender.
“As a racialised and gendered phenomenon, colourism can affect people differently according to their ethnicity and gender (Hunter, 2007; Dixon and Telles, 2017).”
From Skin shade and relationships: how colourism pits Black and mixed Black-White women against each other (2024) · cites this paper as Dixon and Telles, 2017
Among the many sinister collateral effects of the widespread belief in the superiority of whiteness has been the development and continued prominence of colorism in many countries and among many different peoples.
“Among the many sinister collateral effects of the widespread belief in the superiority of whiteness has been the development and continued prominence of colorism in many countries and among many different peoples.”
From Skin color and race (2021) · cites this paper as Dixon & Telles, 2017
The belief that, within any nonwhite, non-European group a person with light colored skin is preferred to one with darker skin is common.
“The belief that, within any nonwhite, non‐European group a person with light colored skin is preferred to one with darker skin is common (Dixon & Telles, 2017; Hall, 1998; Hunter, 2007, 2013; Jablonski, 2012b; Norwood & Foreman, 2014; Russell et al., 1992).”
From Skin color and race (2021) · cites this paper as Dixon & Telles, 2017
In regions colonized by Europeans, perceptions of light and dark have taken on racialized connotations.
“In regions colonized by Europeans, perceptions of light and dark have also come to take on racialized connotations (Hunter, 2007(Hunter, , 2013;;Keith & Monroe, 2016;Dixon & Telles, 2017).”
From Of Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs (2024) · cites this paper as Dixon & Telles, 2017
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References 136 · Cited by 385
- Authors
- Dixon, A. R., & Telles, E. E.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- ORCID
- Telles, Edward E.
- Venue
- Annual Review of Sociology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2017-07-31
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 405-424
- ISSN
- 0360-0572 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2115
- OpenAlex
- W2550640635
- Cited by
- 385
- References
- 136
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32HD007163, P2CHD047879)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Race, Genetics, and Society
- Keywords
- skin color, colorism, skin color measurement, race and racism, color consciousness, white supremacy, social status, Latin America, Asia
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