Stratification by Skin Color in Contemporary Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID4522016
AuthorsA Villarreal (0000-0003-1560-1717, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume75
Issue5
Pages652-678
Publication date2010-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0003122410378232
OpenAlexW2094060775
LanguageEN
Citations received157
References cited69

Latin America is often used as a backdrop against which U.S. race relations are compared. Yet research on race in Latin America focuses almost exclusively on countries in the region with a large recognized presence of individuals of African descent such as Brazil. Racial categories in these countries are based on skin color distinctions along a black-white continuum. By contrast, the main socially recognized ethnic distinction in Indo-Latin American countries such as Mexico, between indigenous and non-indigenous residents, is not based primarily on phenotypical differences, but rather on cultural practices and language use. Many Mexicans today nevertheless express a preference for whiter skin and European features, even though no clear system of skin color categorization appears to exist. In this study, I use data from a nationally-representative panel survey of Mexican adults to examine the extent of skin-color-based social stratification in contemporary Mexico. Despite extreme ambiguity in skin color classification, I find considerable agreement among survey interviewers about who belongs to three skin color categories. The results also provide evidence of profound social stratification by skin color. Individuals with darker skin tone have significantly lower levels of educational attainment and occupational status, and they are more likely to live in poverty and less likely to be affluent, even after controlling for other individual characteristics

Categorization · Dark skin · Ethnic group · Geography · Indigenous · Latin Americans · Political science · Poverty · Skin color · Social class · Social science · Social stratification · Sociology · Anthropology · Demography · Dermatology · Medicine · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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