Colonial Legacies and Comparative Racial Identification in the Americas

McNamee, Lachlan

doi:10.1086/711063

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Some recent studies complicate patterns of socioeconomic whitening in descriptive discourse, presenting new evidence of socioeconomic “darkening” or of social status affecting ethnoracial classification inconsistently across nations (Francis and Tannuri-Pianto 2013; Marteleto 2012; McNamee 2020; Telles and Flores 2013; Telles and Paschel 2014). However, these findings primarily emerge when focusing on one dimension of race—categorical ethnoracial self-classification—and one aspect of socioeconomic status—education.…”

Section: “Money Whitening”mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some Latin American countries, elites developed nation-building projects that centered whiteness, but most Latin American countries adopted national ideologies of mestizaje , which venerated ethnoracial mixture as a sign of their tolerance and unity. McNamee (2020) links the pre-colonial demography of different regions to the racial ideologies that developed among national elites, arguing that elites in countries with substantial mixed-race populations promoted a national ideology of mestizaje to mobilize non-White individuals during revolutionary struggle. Yet in countries where Europeans predominated, local elites adopted national ideologies privileging whiteness.…”

Section: “Money Whitening”mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have measured observed skin color in Mexico, but they use it to control for skin color in analyses of the effects of socioeconomic status on ethnoracial categorization, rather than as a dependent variable (McNamee 2020; Telles and Flores 2013; Telles and Paschel 2014). However, variation in observed skin color may reflect part of the social process they are trying to measure (Villarreal 2012).…”

Section: Racialized Hierarchies In the Mexican Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The process also occurs in the United States, where indicators of social class can shape how individuals are racially classified (Freeman et al 2011; Penner and Saperstein 2008, 2013). Recently, however, some studies have found more complex patterns across Latin America: money or status can “darken” or lead to someone being seen as “Mestizo” 1 in some places (McNamee 2020; Telles and Flores 2013; Telles and Paschel 2014), suggesting that perhaps money does not always whiten.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We analyze the effect of socioeconomic status on four racialized dimensions: observed ethnoracial classification, ethnoracial self-classification, observed color, and self-rated color. Other studies have measured observed color, but their analyses either treat it as a control rather than an outcome (McNamee 2020; Telles and Flores 2013; Telles and Paschel 2014) or lack a separate measure of skin tone removed from social considerations (Campos-Vazquez and Medina-Cortina 2019; Martínez Casas et al 2014; Villarreal 2010). By including our colorimeter-rated color measure, we analyze whether observed and self-rated color are themselves influenced by socioeconomic status in addition to ethnoracial classification by oneself and others.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Money Whitening: Racialized Hierarchies and Socioeconomic Escalators in Mexico

2022

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A core sociological claim is that race is a social construction; an important illustration of this is how racial classifications are influenced by people’s socioeconomic status. In both Latin America and the United States, someone with higher SES is more likely to be classified as White than others of similar appearance, a pattern epitomized by the expression “money whitens.” However, recent studies of the effect of SES on racial classifications show inconsistent results, sometimes depending on the measures used. We develop a broad theorization of societies as having multiple racialized hierarchies with different socioeconomic escalators potentially bringing people to higher-status locations in each one. Yet racialized hierarchies differ across societies, and some non-White classifications may reflect a process of upward movement while others may not. We assess this process in Mexico using the 2019 Project on Ethnic-Racial Discrimination in Mexico, a nationally-representative survey including highly accurate digital skin-color ratings, perceived skin-color assessments, and ethnoracial classifications by respondents and interviewers. We find that having higher education increases respondents’ self-classification as Mestizo. Yet those with greater wealth are “whitened” by interviewers. Simultaneously, respondents and interviewers “lighten” respondents with greater wealth. We argue that SES can differentially affect mobility in different racialized hierarchies, showing how race is constructed partly by other social constructs like class.

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