Color Stratification Research Articles

The causal effect of skin color bias in online dating

Despite the expansive literature on U.S. ethnoracial relations, issues such as reliance on observational data and inconsistent measures of skin color limit the research on skin color stratification and cross-ethnoracial relationships. These issues hinder researchers’ capacity to disentangle the causal effect of colorism in perpetuating discrepancies within intergroup relationships, specifically within the context of online dating, a popular form of modern dating. In May–June 2021, I fielded a survey experiment that features online dating profiles of Black daters in which skin tone is the treatment. While the multivariate analyses show no statistically significant differences between light- and medium-toned daters, profiles featuring dark-skinned daters consistently receive a penalty in comparison to profiles of light- and medium-skinned people. The results suggest that colorism can have a direct impact on how dark-skinned Black people navigate their romantic lives, independent of other influential factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, social networks, etc.).

Cumulative Colorism in Criminal Courts

A growing literature documents skin color stratification in punishment, whereby darker-skinned individuals fare worse than their lighter-skinned counterparts. Virtually all of this research has focused on colorism operating through direct channels. Utilizing a novel dataset linking the mugshots and court records of 6931 felony defendants from Miami-Dade County (Florida) from 2012 to 2015, we show that colorism in punishment, particularly for Hispanics, operates through indirect mechanisms – in addition to direct channels. We argue that colorism in punishment is sustained through a cumulative (dis)advantage process, highlighting how skin color stratification is institutionalized in the criminal justice system.

COLORISM BEFORE AND AFTER THE ONE DROP RULE

ABSTRACT The ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson changed the United States from a color-focused society to a race-focused society and stripped the privileged formal status from mulattos. Black identity was flattened to what we know today: a collective identity with rampant color stratification. While research on colorism has expanded, we need to understand how contemporary colorism evolved from the systems of the past. I use Census microdata from 1870 and 1920 and regression analysis to examine colorism before and after the one-drop-rule. I reveal that colorism worsened after the one-drop-rule, and mulattos tried even harder to preserve their distinct identity.

The Cumulative Effects of Colorism: Race, Wealth, and Skin Tone

Abstract Researchers have long documented a persistent Black–White gap in wealth. These studies, however, often treat race as a discrete category, eluding its socially constructed nature. As a result, these studies assume that the “effect of race” is consistent across all individuals racialized as Black. Studies that make this assumption potentially obscure heterogeneity in the size of the Black–White wealth gap. Research on skin color stratification suggests that it is possible that the Black–White wealth gap varies by the extent to which a racial subgroup is deemed to fit the broader racial umbrella. In turn, I adopt a more complex operationalization of race that is based on both racial and skin tone appraisals. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find that the Black–White wealth gap does vary by the Black skin tone subgroup. Generally, the Black–White gap in assets is smallest when focusing on lighter-skin Black people and largest when focusing on darker-skin Black people. These differences are not only the result of initial disadvantage but also cumulative disadvantage in the rate of wealth accumulation. Lastly, the findings suggest that the Black–White wealth gaps grow at a faster rate than the skin tone wealth gaps. I found that differences were robust to adjustments for parental socioeconomic status, childhood background, and interviewer characteristics. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications for our understanding of the mechanisms undergirding Black–White disparities in wealth attainment.

Color Balance Method of Dense Point Cloud in Landslides Area Based on UAV Images

Landslides are a natural geological phenomenon and often cause economic losses, property damage, and loss of lives. The detection and recognition based on the dense point cloud derived from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) images play an important role in understanding the mechanism of landslides. However, the brightness difference of UAV images with large altitude differences usually makes the dense point cloud within a landslide area show color stratification, and the processing results of popular commercial and open-source software are not ideal. In this study, a multi-view UAV image brightness compensation method based on regular 3D points is proposed, and is combined with the open-source software OpenMVG and OpenMVS to obtain a dense point cloud with balanced color on the landslide’s surface. The selected study area is located in the active landslide region caused by the Tengqing coal mining area in Guizhou Province, China. The terrain following flight method was used to acquire complete high resolution UAV images of the study area. Experimental results show that the global gain and offset compensation methods proposed in this study can effectively reduce the 22.3% brightness difference in the overlapping area of the adjacent images. The comparison results and the processing results of other commercial software show that the method can be applied to the color balance of the dense point cloud for UAV images with large-altitude differences.

Pathways to Skin Color Stratification: The Role of Inherited (Dis)Advantage and Skin Color Discrimination in Labor Markets

Research has uncovered associations between skin color and myriad outcomes. What drives these associations? We develop a theoretical framework that synthesizes the multiple pathways linking skin color with life chances. Skin color stratification should be conceptualized in historical, structural terms: as the result of unequal treatment and inherited (dis)advantage, that is, unequal resources transmitted by families with different skin tones. We assess the role of two pathways— discrimination and inherited (dis)advantage—for Blacks' and Latinos' employment, earnings, and occupational prestige. We use the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, which includes a visual skin color measure; multiple indicators of family background; and a sibling subsample that allows us, using fixed-effects models, to recover the effect of skin color net of family background. First, we find that darker skin tone is associated with worse labor market outcomes. Indicators of family background account for 29 to 44 percent of skin color’s associations with employment, earnings, and occupational prestige. Second, using sibling fixed-effects models, we find that darker skin tone is associated with worse labor market outcomes, but these associations are not statistically significant. In sum, our findings suggest that we pay attention to the multiple pathways linking skin color with life chances.

Mineralosphere Microbiome Leading to Changed Geochemical Properties of Sedimentary Rocks from Aiqigou Mud Volcano, Northwest China.

The properties of rocks can be greatly affected by seepage hydrocarbons in petroleum-related mud volcanoes. Among them, the color of sedimentary rocks can reflect the changes of sedimentary environment and weathering history. However, little is known about the microbial communities and their biogeochemical significance in these environments. In this study, contrasting rock samples were collected from the Aiqigou mud volcano on the southern margin of the Junggar Basin in Northwest China as guided by rock colors indicative of redox conditions. The physicochemical properties and mineral composition are similar under the same redox conditions. For example, the content of chlorite, muscovite, quartz, and total carbon were higher, and the total iron was lower under reduced conditions compared with oxidized environments. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons revealed that different functional microorganisms may exist under different redox conditions; microbes in oxidized conditions have higher diversity. Statistical analysis and incubation experiments indicated that the microbial community structure is closely related to the content of iron which may be an important factor for color stratification of continental sedimentary rocks in the Aiqigou mud volcano. The interactions between organics and iron-bearing minerals mediated by microorganisms have also been hypothesized.

Temporal dynamics of the plankton community structure in Madura Strait: algae bloom study case

In March 2019 there was a phenomenon in the waters around the Suramadu Bridge in the Madura Strait, where surface water appeared in a different color layer. Madura Strait has a surface current with a range of 0.013 - 0.77 m/sec. In the west season to transition I (December- May) surface flows move from West to East and vice versa in the east season to Transition II (June-November) surface currents tend to move from East to West. Madura Strait is a river estuary in the city of Surabaya which tends to have poor / moderate polluted water quality due to the large amount of organic material input into the waters. Both of those causes the Madura Strait tends to have a high concentration of organic matter and primary productivity. Research aims on temporal dynamics in the structure of the plankton community in Madura Straits after blooming algae to analyze the abundance, distribution, diversity, and dominance index with temporal water quality indicators. Water samples were collected using Kitahara net for phytoplankton by filtering from bottom to surface. The density of plankton for each station was measured base on their biovolume bases. Genus of phytoplankton was identified for each station. Phytoplankton community consists of 15-21 species with Chaetoceros sp. as a dominant species. At least five species of Chaetoceros were identified when sea water had a color stratification and declined in subsequent observations. Chaetoceros sp.2 is the dominant species with abundance range 12,018 ind/L - 47,580 ind/L. The diversity index (Shannon Wiener index) shows the waters in poor condition with phytoplankton H’value range 0.2511 - 0.9543, and zooplankton H’ value range 1.2566 - 2.0201. The dominance index (D) of phytoplankton 0.5282 - 0.9263 and zooplankton 0.1639 - 0.3882.

Their American Dream

Centuries before W.E.B. DuBois named the colorline—i.e., racism—as the problem of the 20th century, skin color stratification was a persistent phenomenon. In 1983 Black feminist, scholar, and Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker termed “colorism” as “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their [skin] color”. Using the tools of genealogy, I conducted a critical family history of my parents, Lem and Mae’s, pursuit of their American Dream. Such exploration digs deep to decipher the nexuses of a family’s evolution. Dr. Maya Angelou routinely shared stories about her past to impart the importance of embracing one’s history. For my parents, the American Dream meant opportunity, which included home ownership. Their American Dream began as African Americans in the United States’ Jim Crow south. Lem was a light-skinned man; Mae a dark-complexion woman. They met, married, and bought a small home in segregated Columbia, South Carolina. Bearing the cloak of oppression, my parents joined millions of southern Blacks in the Great Migration relocating to northern cities—my parents landed in Boston, Massachusetts. Throughout their journey, Lem and Mae reached back to their ancestors, and drew from within themselves to improve their circumstances.

Is White Always Right? Skin Color and Interdating Among Whites

The burgeoning literature on skin color stratification highlights how skin color is associated with disparities in outcomes such as socioeconomic status, health, and intergroup relationships among ethnoracial minorities. However, there is a limited body of work that suggests that darker skin color is also associated with differing outcomes among whites in spite of their position as the socially dominant group of the U.S. This study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen to examine how skin color, among whites, relates to their likelihood of dating ethnoracial minorities. The results show that darker skin color is associated with greater odds of dating Latinos and Asians. The results also suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between whites’ skin color and their likelihood of dating blacks. The author argues that because darker skin color connotes lower status due to its affiliation with non-whiteness, darker skin color among whites can lead to greater interactions with ethnoracial minorities. However, there may be an exception when dating blacks. This study highlights a possible underlying mechanism, ethnoracial ambiguity among whites, that shapes current ethnoracial relations, which has long-term implications for the future of intergroup boundaries.

How Much Does Physical Attractiveness Matter for Blacks? Linking Skin Color, Physical Attractiveness, and Black Status Attainment

The accumulated evidence suggests that lighter-complected blacks are more successful in our society than their darker-complected counterparts. Prior research also documents a correlation between physical attractiveness and socio-economic status attainment. The current study bridges the literatures on colorism and physical attraction and examines the complex relationship between skin color, physical attractiveness, gender, on the one hand, and three indicators of status attainment (educational attainment, hourly wage and job quality), on the other, for black young adults. Controls include family SES, family structure, parent–child relationships, and other covariates. Analysis was conducted in STATA and via structural equation modeling using MPlus software. The analysis shows that lighter-skinned young blacks attain a higher educational level, receive higher wages and enjoy better-quality jobs than their darker skinned co-ethnics. Moreover, the results show that more physically attractive young blacks, especially women, are advantaged in terms of educational attainment, wages, and job quality than their less physically attractive counterparts. These findings suggest that, among blacks, the skin color stratification coincides with that based on physical attractiveness to a large degree, with the implication being that the skin tone is a predictor of both physical attractiveness and social status for black men and women.

Genesis of U.S. Colorism and Skin Tone Stratification: Slavery, Freedom, and Mulatto-Black Occupational Inequality in the Late 19th Century

Studies show lighter skinned Black people are advantaged on a number of social indicators—a phenomenon called “colorism.” These studies generally contend preferences for light-skinned and/or Mulatto slaves endured the postbellum period to shape social outcomes into today. Following this idea, other studies examine differences in social outcomes between Mulattos and Blacks in the 19th century, but few empirically connect antebellum life to postbellum Mulatto–Black stratification. With that in mind, I examine whether the socio-economic differences between Mulattos and Blacks varied across geographic space in proportion to places’ reliance on slave labor and the characteristics of its free African American population. This allows me to examine whether differences in economic status between Mulattos and Blacks are a result of Mulatto advantage in the form of privileged positions during slavery. My results reveal that Mulattos have higher occupational statuses relative to Blacks in places where slavery was more prominent and where free Mulattos were literate. This suggests the intraracial hierarchy established during slavery was more likely to be replicated in places where slavery was more important, and Mulattos were able to capitalize on freedom by leveraging their literacy into better economic statuses after emancipation. These results support the idea that skin color stratification was initiated at least in part by practices during chattel slavery and offers some plausible mechanisms for its transmission.

No Longer Invisible: Understanding the Psychosocial Impact of Skin Color Stratification in the Lives of African American Women

This article examines how skin color stratification, termed "colorism," affects the psychological well-being of African American women. Previous research has shown that the experience of colorism is pervasive within the black community and that black women have been culturally or personally affected by intraracial discrimination. This article describes a qualitative study that used focus groups to investigate the experiences of black women that were categorized according to their self-ascribed skin tone group. The findings indicated that women of different hues have distinctive experiences based on their skin tone, and that these experiences influence how they felt about themselves and interact with others. The article concludes with a discussion of practice, research, and policy implications.

Conservative dentistry: non-beveled esthetic restorations in anterior teeth

The pursuit of esthetic excellence in dentistry today requires dental practitioners to enhance their knowledge and technique in restorations of the anterior teeth. Due to the high incidence and prevalence of fractures in this dental area, mimicking the optical properties and characteristics of the dental structure in young patients (aged 6 to 15 years) is a major challenge. This case report describes the minimally invasive, non-beveled restoration of two fractured anterior teeth (class IV). After diagnosing fractures of teeth 11 and 21 in a 10-year-old patient, a composite mock-up was performed, followed by a diagnostic wax-up. With the aid of a silicon guide, the restorations were prepared without beveling the enamel surface. We performed color stratification by using different types of composite resins. Finally, finishing and polishing procedures were carried out.

Social Stratification in Mexico

In a recent ASR article (2010), Andres Villarreal (hereafter AV) presents evidence of dramatic skin color stratification and indigenous disadvantage in contemporary Mexico based on the 2006 MIT Mexico Panel Study. AV uses regression models to predict educational attainment, occupational status and household income for Mexicans by ethnicity and according to three skin color categories. He finds that the darkest skin tone individuals have the lowest socioeconomic status followed by those with intermediate skin colors on all these outcomes, even after controlling for individual characteristics. AV does us an important service by drawing our attention to the role of skin color in Mexican social stratification, which has generally been denied or overlooked. However, we argue that AV overstates the effects of skin color on class in Mexican society because he ignores class origins, he uses a highly subjective skin color indicator that is itself affected by class, and he misidentifies indigenous ethnicity. In this comment, we find general support for AV’s conclusions about the effect of skin color in the Mexican stratification system, especially in educational attainment, but class origins are a more dominant factor in Mexican social stratification and they explain some of the apparent skin color differences that AV found. By controlling for class origins and by using more accurate measures of color and indigenous ethnicity, we discover that the magnitude of indigenous and skin color disadvantage is smaller than AV finds in the case of educational attainment. Class origins and educationi largely explain color differences in occupational status while color and indigenous identity have virtually no effect. We have sought to replicate AV’s analysis on most variables since we believe it is excellent methodologically, except that we use innovative and new data that better capture color, indigenous ethnicity, and class origins. We show that the rest of our coefficients are very similar to those in a model that replicates the same variables used in one of AV’s models, suggesting that our data, variables and statistical methods closely match his. We realize that the shortcomings we find for AV are mostly due to his use of a data set that was not designed for this end.

Prolongation of T2 Stratification after Microfracture Does Not Indicate Normal Cartilage.

Dear Editor, We read with interest the recent article by Domayer et al. titled “Microfracture in the Ankle: Clinical Results and MRI with T2-Mapping at 3.0 T after 1 to 8 Years” (Cartilage Online First, October 18, 2010). The authors concluded that microfracture surgery as a means of treatment for osteochondral lesions of the talus can provide a repair tissue that is similar to that of “adjacent” cartilage when assessed with a relaxation time analysis via quantitative T2-mapping MRI. The inferior biological and mechanical properties of fibrocartilage are well recognized throughout the literature.1-5 Normal articular cartilage is composed primarily of type II collagen, whereas the differentiation of fibrocartilage results in an increased type I collagen composition. We were therefore surprised to learn that the fibrocartilage infill reported in the analysis by Domayer et al. resembled normal cartilage. In our experience, the T2 values of fibrocartilage infill following microfracture never approach the stratification of normal cartilage. In fact, the T2 values are typically diffuse and prolongated, thereby reflecting poor collagen fiber architecture within the repair cartilage (Fig. 1). Figure 1. Coronal quantitative T2-map performed 24 months following microfracture to the lateral aspect of the talar dome demonstrates prolongation of T2 values without color stratification at the site of cartilage repair. We must emphasize that a single T2 measurement within the respective region of interest should not be considered adequate in accurately quantifying the cartilage repair tissue. Standardized regions of interest for quantitative imaging techniques such as T2-mapping should include multiple standardized measurements of the repair tissue (i.e., the central aspect of the defect, the peripheral defect, the interface between the repair and host tissues, the area adjacent to the defect, and a control value that is remote from the defect). These measurements should also be taken in both the deep and superficial halves of repair cartilage. Interestingly, a significant area of prolongation within the repair tissue over the defect is evident in Figure 3A, but it is impossible to know whether or not this was taken into account in the authors’ analysis without a standardized protocol with multiple measurements. We stress that the quantification of repair cartilage following microfracture surgery for osteochondral lesions of the talus must be evaluated further before definitive conclusions can be drawn. Sincerely,

Can T2 relaxation values and color maps be used to detect chondral damage utilizing subchondral bone marrow edema as a marker?

This study aimed to investigate whether a commercially available time-efficient T2 mapping sequence will demonstrate findings of articular cartilage degeneration based on T2 relaxation values (RV) and color maps, using subchondral bone marrow edema (BME) as a marker for chondral damage. The patient group consisted of 88 subjects who underwent knee magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 T who had subchondral BME evident on fat-suppressed T2-weighted sequences. The control group was comprised of 60 subjects with no evidence of subchondral BME. A commercially available eight echo T2 relaxation sequence (acquisition time 8:36 min) was used to construct a T2 color map and to determine T2 RVs. T2 RVs were determined on cartilage overlying subchondral BME in patients and in eight pre-determined anatomical regions in controls. T2 color maps in the patient and control groups were analyzed for degree of color stratification (presence = two or more colors) at the same anatomic site as that used for T2 RV determination. T2 RVs were significantly increased in patients compared to controls for the medial femoral condyle (MF; p < 0.01), medial patellar facet (MP; p < 0.01), lateral patellar facet (LP; p < 0.01), lateral femoral condyle (LF; p < 0.01) and lateral tibial plateau (LT; p < 0.01). Loss of color stratification was noted in patients compared to controls in the medial tibial plateau (MT; p = 0.01), LF (p < 0.01), and LT (p < 0.01). In the patient group, increase in T2 RVs was associated with corresponding decrease in color stratification in MF (p < 0.01), MT (p < 0.01), MP (p < 0.01), medial femoral trochlear groove (p = 0.02), and lateral femoral trochlear groove (p < 0.01). Subchondral BME was associated with an increase in adjacent articular cartilage T2 RVs at some sites. Also, elevated T2 RVs were associated with loss of color stratification.

The Persistent Problem of Colorism: Skin Tone, Status, and Inequality

AbstractColorism is a persistent problem for people of color in the USA. Colorism, or skin color stratification, is a process that privileges light‐skinned people of color over dark in areas such as income, education, housing, and the marriage market. This essay describes the experiences of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans with regard to skin color. Research demonstrates that light‐skinned people have clear advantages in these areas, even when controlling for other background variables. However, dark‐skinned people of color are typically regarded as more ethnically authentic or legitimate than light‐skinned people. Colorism is directly related to the larger system of racism in the USA and around the world. The color complex is also exported around the globe, in part through US media images, and helps to sustain the multibillion‐dollar skin bleaching and cosmetic surgery industries.

Negotiating the Color Line

Using 16 in-depth interviews drawn from a larger sample of Black/white biracial individuals, this article explores how gender shapes the microlevel process of racial identity construction. Skin color stratification within the Black community, combined with a low rate of marriageable men and high rates of interracial marriages among the most educated and affluent Black men, has created a social context that differentiates the interactional experiences of biracial men and women. The findings highlight the need for more complex theoretical conceptualizations of how gender shapes the way that women negotiate their racial identities in post-Civil Rights America.

An analysis of the Latin Americanization of race in the United States: a reconnaissance of color stratification among Mexicans

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has painted with broad strokes a portrait of the future of racial relations in the United States in his paper entitled, “We are all Americans: Toward a New System of Racial Stratification in the U.S.A.” [Race and Society (forthcoming)]. In essence, he sees the United States moving from a two-tier, black-white racial system toward a three-tier racial system where persons will be categorized as “white”, “honorary white”, or “collective black”. Additionally, Bonilla-Silva believes that we are moving from a system in which race is commonly taken into account, toward a system of “color-blind” racism. In this article, we closely examine Bonilla-Silva’s ideas, and although we appreciate the broad scale of his work and its challenge to traditional race relations, we make adjustments to his work, particularly concerning the location of Latinos in the U.S. racial hierarchy, which lead both to a better understanding of the current and future racial situation in the United States, and toward policy recommendations which could ameliorate the bleak situation in which we find ourselves concerning life chances of people of color.