Skin Tone and Stratification in the Black Community

Abstract

Data from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA)(1979-80) are used to examine the effects of skin-tone variations of blacks on educational attainment, occupation, and income, net of such antecedent factors as parental socioeconomic status and such contemporaneous factors as sex, region of residence, urbanicity, age, and marital status. The findings are that not only does complexion have significant net effects on stratification outcomes, but it is also a more consequential predictor of occupation and income than such background characteristics as parents' socioeconomic status. Results are consistent with an interpretation that suggests that the continuing disadvantage that darker blacks experience is due to persisting discrimination against them in the contemporary United States.