Appearance, Discrimination, and Reaction Qualifications

Abstract

When are selectors for advantaged social positions morally justified in giving weight to the appearance of the candidates? In order to address this issue adequately, we need to know when a person’s appearance can be a legitimate qualification for a position. Some of the hardest cases are jobs that involve interacting with clients or customers who prefer to deal with good-looking employees or who respond more favourably to them. But there is also a wide range of difficult cases in which an unconventional appearance, rather than good looks as such, provokes a response in others, for example, facial tattoos or piercings, and hairstyles that involve dreadlocks, braids, or bright colouration. In these cases we need to know whether an appearance of this kind can legitimately count against applicants when the clientele with whom they will be dealing have conservative attitudes and would be better disposed towards more conventional-looking employees.