The Globalization of Light Skin Colorism: From Critical Race to Critical Skin Theory

Abstract

On the cusp of Western civilization, Caucasians aspired to a racial world order defining Caucasian as superior race status. Today, racial diversity is a societal theme facilitated by laws, which deems racial equality a right and racial discrimination illegal. Nevertheless, by globalization, a racial world order exists by locating light skin at the zenith of humanity. As pertains to the globalization of light skin, culture and social criteria are most significant considering the demands of a racist racial hierarchy. The existence of such a hierarchy by replacing racism with colorism then necessitates moving beyond race category. Critical race theory (CRT) per light skin as new world order must defer to critical skin theory (CST). Colorism per CST operates identical in manner to racism per CRT. CST must then be elevated to priority over CRT such that the future of humanity may be rescued from the tenacious transgressions of a racist societal past.

A Call to Action: The Need for a Cultural Psychological Approach to Discrimination on the Basis of Skin Color in Asia

“…On the other hand, stigmatizing depictions of criminality in dark-skinned men seems to be a common practice in popular culture and, hence, could be a “contemporary” form of colorism that revolves around perceptions of masculinity and violent intent. Indeed, this could be the result of the aforementioned globalization of colorism (Hall, 2018) and thus potentially comparable with studies conducted among African Americans. For example, one study showed that light-skinned Black women were judged as more attractive than dark-skinned Black women, but also that this effect was absent when rating Black men (Hill, 2002).…”

“…Indeed, the persistent idea that a preference for fairness necessarily results from colonization (and refers to “racial Whiteness”) exposes a biased and racialized conception of fair skin, effectively supporting the inconvenient observation that psychology may carry with it its own “racism-relevant way of seeing the world” (Salter, Adams, & Perez, 2018, p. 152). Nevertheless, through globalization and digital technology, global habits that categorize people along the color line have merged, transforming the norms of hierarchy to a level unseen before (Hall, 2018).…”

“…Hall (2018) argued for a transformation of critical race theory into critical skin theory, as the dynamics of globalization in relation to economics increasingly transform the conception of European Whites as topping the social hierarchy toward light-skinned social groups as topping the social hierarchy instead. With the rise of China and the relative economic successes of South Korea and Japan, societies of the northern hemisphere have been able to impose their ideals of human aesthetics (i.e., fair-skinned in-group prototypes) onto peoples of the southern hemisphere, whose economic hardships deny them the affordance of a similar mobility.…”

Whitewashing Through Film: How Educators Can Use Critical Race Media Literacy to Analyze Hollywood’s Adaptation of Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give

“…Indeed, racism bears down upon both lighter-skinned and darker-skinned Black people; however, lighter-skinned people enjoy more privileges than their darker-skinned counterparts. In fact, critical skin theory posits that colorism is a constant feature of American culture, "germane to the social core of Western civilization" (Hall, 2018(Hall, , p. 2139). Black people with lighter skin are considered to be more employable and are employed at higher rates, incarcerated and disciplined in schools at lower rates, and possess higher representation in positions as corporate executives and government officials (Norwood, 2015).…”

Negotiations of Women’s Black and Activist Identity Through Dress on the College Campus, 2013–2019

“…Racial equity and diversity are recurring themes in different institutional and public policies, specifically in the United States (Hall, 2018). Despite this, the historical residue of racial hierarchy continues to plague the nation because being white continues to translate into having power over people of color (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017;Hall, 2018).…”