Archive: Jan 2016

Skin color has long shaped the lives of blacks, as the advantages of being “light skinned” extend far beyond the socioeconomic. It even plays an important role in health outcomes. Health disparities between blacks and whites are well documented, and blacks often maintain higher rates of negative health outcomes such as mortality and morbidity than whites. The predictors of health disparities within the same racial group, however, remain largely unexamined. Thus, Ellis Monk investigates skin color as a form of discrimination in health outcomes between blacks.

So, how does one’s skin tone influence health disparities through discrimination? Monk uses various measures to investigate perceived discrimination and skin color through the National Survey of American Life (2001-2003) and face-to-face field interviews with respondents aged 18 and older. To assess perceived discrimination, Monk examines both perceived discrimination from whites and perceived discrimination from other blacks, in addition to the frequency of such discrimination. Monk measures skin color by first analyzing how the interviewer rates respondents’ skin tone, and second, how the respondents rate their own skin tone. Perceived discrimination and skin color are then examined in relation to four self-reported health outcomes: physical health, hypertension, mental health, and depression.

Monk concludes that the darker one’s reported skin color, the more discrimination they perceive from whites. Perceived discrimination among blacks, however, depends upon their placement in one of three categories: light skinned, medium-toned, and dark skinned. Blacks in the medium-toned category actually maintained more positive rates in mental health and were less likely to perceive discrimination from either white or black peers.

Still, the magnitude of the health disparities among blacks with various skin colors was found to be often equal to or greater than health disparities between blacks and whites. Monk also notes that blacks who reported higher levels of skin tone discrimination from other blacks also had higher rates of poor physical health. Monk argues that the study challenges common methodological practices that homogenize minority populations, demonstrating more nuanced life experiences affected by skin tone.The magnitude of the health disparities among blacks with various skin colors was found to be often equal to or greater than health disparities between blacks and whites.

Often comic, romanticized images of swashbuckling European pirates suggest that we know what pirates are—or, rather, were. Today, baseball fans in Pittsburgh or children in Halloween costumes might cheer upon hearing the struggles of the British military in eradicating piracy in the 17th century, but what these struggles really tell us is that piracy is a social construction. Despite the British Royal Navy’s unquestioned status as the world’s most powerful military entity at the time, pirates successfully harassed British commercial shipping for much of the colonial period. In the face of such military might, why did piracy remain a major problem for so long?

In his American Journal of Sociology study, sociologist Matthew Norton sought to explain why, in approximately 1700, with little change in the Navy’s strength or priorities, British military interventions against pirates suddenly became successful. What changed to finally stem the tide of buccaneering?

Norton reiterates that because the British Navy successfully fought wars against Dutch, French, and Spanish colonial competitors at the same time as piracy plagued British commerce, the failure to stop piracy cannot be explained by a lack of military power. Instead, Norton points to the importance of cultural processes in classifying piracy as a legal problem, rather than a commercial one, and establishing a set of institutional methods for dealing with it. While piracy was certainly a problem before 1700, Norton shows that the British military and political authorities had difficulty defining exactly who suffered from piracy and who should bear the costs of fighting it. Laws passed during the 17th century failed to produce results, then, since little consensus around exactly why and for whom piracy was a problem meant state actors had little incentive to prioritize a harsh response.When piracy was a matter of private, commercial concern, it couldn’t be quelled. But legal changes in 1700 “reflected the new consensus that pirates were to be thought of as unambiguous enemies of the state and civilization” and finally calmed the waters of Northern Europe.

The violent military crackdown on piracy that began in the early 18th century “was only possible because earlier solutions that sought to adapt existing legal meanings and institutions failed.” When piracy was a matter of private, commercial concern, it couldn’t be quelled. But legal changes in 1700 “reflected the new consensus that pirates were to be thought of as unambiguous enemies of the state and civilization” and finally calmed the waters of Northern Europe.

Negative stereotypes about marginalized social groups can contribute to inequalities in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system. Additionally, negative stereotypes may merge to produce “double disadvantages” for individuals belonging to two or more marginalized groups. This means that Black women, for example, face the double disadvantage of being both Black and women. But can negative stereotypes ever have positive consequences?  Yes, according to sociologist David S. Pedulla, who looks at how stereotypes about gay men and Black men may counteract one another in the job application process.

Using an audit study, Pedulla surveyed 418 random respondents, asking how they would respond to one of four randomly assigned resumes. The survey asked respondents to review the resume, imagining that they were helping a friend in charge of hiring for an assistant manager position. They were also asked to make salary recommendations based on the applicant’s resume. Respondents then answered a series of questions about how strongly they agreed with statements like “the applicant makes female co-workers feel uncomfortable” and “the applicant is likely to break work rules.” These questions were used to determine perceived threat of the applicant.Effeminate stereotypes about gay men may counteract stereotypes of Black men as criminal, violent, and hypersexual, ultimately benefiting gay Black men in the marketplace.

All four resumes were identical in academic and professional qualifications, but varied to signal the race and sexual orientation of the applicant. Names were used to signal race: Brad Miller to signal a white applicant, and Darnell Jackson to signal a Black applicant. Sexual orientation was signaled through the applicant’s college student organizations: “gay” by listing participation in the “Gay Student Advisory Council” and straight by simply  listing participation in a “Student Advisory Council.”

The results are striking: gay Black male job applicants were offered $7,000 more than straight Black male job applicants. Furthermore, “gay Black male applicants are perceived as being less threatening than straight Black male applicants” (p. 87). While Pedulla finds that being gay negatively affects gay white men, he argues that effeminate stereotypes about gay men counteract stereotypes of Black men as criminal, violent, and hypersexual, ultimately benefiting gay Black men in the marketplace.

For more, see “For Gay Black Men, Negative Stereotypes May Have One Positive Consequence.”