Skin tone confers material economic benefits through racial capital

Evidence

Surveillance of Beauty The surveillance of beauty is another way that Muslim American women who wear the hijab are surveilled for their cultural practices. Whiteness has become a marker of beauty and privilege both in the United States as well as in countries that make up the southern hemisphere, such as India (Hunter 2011). This is evidenced by the increased interest and use of skin lightening creams both in the United States and internationally. Hunter (2011) refers to “racial capital” as a material benefit people possess based on their skin tone. In a racialized society, the lighter one’s skin tone, the more access one has to economic resources such as jobs or social networks (Glenn 2009; Hunter 2011). Muslim women who wear the hijab were told wearing it made them ugly; they are also racialized for their beauty. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 403

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Hunter’s term ‘racial capital’ — a material benefit contingent on skin tone.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 403
• XREF: connects to: Mixed-light complexions gain economic and social status in colonial societies; Skin color trumped wealth and education as the criterion of Trinidadian social prestige; The racial epidermal schema replaces the corporeal schema under white regard — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 395 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Post-1877 capitalism used differential reward by race to stabilize wealth #corroborates (0.75)
• Racial ideology functions as a labor discipline for capital #expands (0.70)
• Capitalism differentiated peoples into racial categories rather than homogenizing them #expands (0.65) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 205
• Economic-reductionist theories explain racial divisions as byproducts of economic structures #complicates (0.60)
• Racialism pervaded Western consciousness before and beyond capitalism #qualifies (0.60)