Shifting Identities: Skin-tone and Distributive Conflict

• In Event: Skin-tone, Phenotype, and Prejudice

Abstract

In multi-ethnic and multi-racial societies like Brazil, group membership has important implications for citizen’s access to public resources, employment, treatment by the state, etc. In many contexts, group membership is fluid and difficult to define based on objective criteria. In cases where group boundaries are permeable, how do people define what group they belong to? Theoretical accounts suggest people attempt to “exit” low-status identities where other, higher- status identities are accessible; shifting identities in turn has implications for political preferences (Shayo 2009, Tajfel and Turner 1986, Jost 2003).

This project seeks to extend the analysis to the case of Brazil, which has a multi-racial society, with a different history than the U.S., where the bulk of this research has been conducted. Through a series of survey experiments we have implemented through online survey panels in Brazil, we explore variation in how people perceive themselves racially and, in turn, the implications this has for distributive politics. In particular, we are motivated by a well-documented phenomenon in which people systematically identify themselves as ‘lighter’ or ‘whiter’ than their phenotypical characteristics would suggest (Telles, 2014).

We draw on literature in race and ethnic politics and political psychology to argue that this phenomenon constitutes a desire individuals in highly unequal societies have to draw distance from ‘low-status’ groups (Jost 2003). We argue this process is motivated by internalized negative associations between race and socioeconomic status, and that this ‘self-lightening’ ultimately has implications for preferences over distributive politics. To test our argument, we propose a new way to measure variation in racial identification (Respondent Color Palette), an experimental manipulation that primes the racialization of poverty (Survey Experiment), and an outcome question measuring support for race-based quotas in the federal university system (Racial Quotas).

Our project bridges research on colorism in the US and Latin America with work on racial identity and distributive politics (Moreno et al, 2012; de Vidas and Hoffman, 2012). We believe these additions will be fruitful to future scholars, particularly in how they complement existing items on the questionnaire bearing on distributive politics.

Authors

• Nura Sediqe, Princeton University

• Juan Fernando Tellez, Duke University

• Jesse Lopez, Duke University