Colorism and Classism Confounded: Perceptions of Discrimination in Latin America

• In Event: 174 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Comparative Perspectives on Discrimination

Abstract

Historically, national narratives in many Latin American countries have acknowledged the presence of class disadvantage, but minimized the role played by racial and skin color discrimination. Since the 1990s, social science research and social movements have increasingly highlighted the racial and skin color-based inequality within Latin America. Much less is known, however, about the degree to which people themselves distinguish between types of discrimination or attribute disadvantage to both class and color, which is defined in this study as dual discrimination. Using the 2010 AmericasBarometer LAPOP data for eight Latin American countries, this study finds strong evidence against the notion that traditional national narratives align with people’s own everyday experiences or that color-based explanations of disadvantage have replaced class-based explanations. Instead marginalized individuals rely on both class and skin color frames to understand the unfavorable treatment they perceive—in line with scholarship showing both class disadvantage and color conjointly influence the stratification systems of Latin America.

Author

• Angela Dixon, Princeton University