Skin Tone and Inequality of Socioeconomic Outcomes in Mexico

A Comparative Analysis Using Optical Colorimeters and Color Palettes

Bibliographic Data

ID2423482
AuthorsPatricio Solís (0000-0002-9470-8362, El Colegio de México, corresponding author), Braulio Güémez (0000-0001-6774-5013, Duke University), Raymundo M Campos-Vázquez (0000-0003-0251-5051, El Colegio de México)
Year2025
Volume11
Issue1
Pages50-68
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Race and Ethnicity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2332-6492 • E-ISSN: 2332-6506
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/23326492231217232
OpenAlexW4390457197
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited37

We study the association between skin tone and socioeconomic outcomes in Mexico. Previous studies have relied on subjective measures of skin tone, but these may suffer from measurement error and bias from "money lightening" effects, and they do not include other physical attributes, which could lead to overestimation. We use a new data source in Mexico specifically designed to address these challenges, including an objective measurement of skin tone based on optical colorimeters. We find that the estimates of the association between skin tone and socioeconomic outcomes are consistent across data collection techniques (interviewer-rated, self-rated, machine-rated) and surveys. Around half of the association is explained by differences in socioeconomic background, a finding that emphasizes the importance of considering both historically accumulated disadvantages and current mechanisms of generating inequality. We also find that phenotypical characteristics other than skin tone (eye and hair color) are significant predictors of socioeconomic outcomes. These findings suggest that more than a strict pigmentocracy, where light skin is the only element or the definitive one, ethnoracial stratification in Mexico may be better characterized in a broader sense: as one where people with a set of racialized physical features linked to European origins have greater accumulated privilege and social advantages than those with features linked to Indigenous or Black ancestry

Art · Association (psychology · Computer security · Inequality · Privilege (computing · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Tone (literature · Computer Science · COVID-19 epidemiological studies · Demography · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Mathematics · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research

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