Beauty, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender Inequalities

Abstract The social scientific study of beauty convincingly documents significant and substantial inequalities associated with perceptions of who is (and is not) beautiful. Much of this research shows, for instance, that those perceived to be beautiful are more likely to be better educated, employed, earn higher wages, marry those of higher social status, and even experience relative leniency in the criminal justice system. Some of these studies find that the advantages of being perceived as beautiful are similar to or even larger than measures of actual ability. Moreover, studies even document that beauty premia begin to manifest in childhood through differences in parental investment and affect, in addition to favorable treatment from teachers and peers. All told, then, it is quite clear that beauty matters for social inequality and stratification. What is less clear, however, is how race intersects with beauty and shapes patterns of social inequality and stratification. This chapter synthesizes literature across the social sciences on how race (and gender) intersects with beauty, powerfully influencing who gets what and how much in societies all over the world. In so doing, it both provides a view of the current state of our knowledge and highlights opportunities for much needed future research.