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Publications [#255307] of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Papers Accepted

  1. Bonilla-Silva, E; Dietrich, DR, The latin americanization of racial stratification in the U.S., in Race in the 21st Century, edited by Ronald Hall (December, 2008), pp. 151-170, Springer New York, New York [doi]
    (last updated on 2024/03/29)

    Abstract:
    Aside from what exists in the U.S. there is another layer of complexity in Latin American racial stratification systems. They include three racial strata, which are internally designated by color. In addition to skin tone, phenotype, hair texture, eye color, culture, education, and class matter is the phenomenon known as pigmentocracy, or colorism. Pigmentocracy has been central to the maintenance of White power in Latin America because it has fostered: (a) divisions among all those in secondary racial strata; (b) divisions within racial strata limiting the likelihood of within-strata unity; (c) mobility viewed as individual and conditional upon whitening; and (d) white elites being regarded as legitimate representatives of the nation even though they do not look like the average member of the nation. A related dynamic in Latin American stratification is the social practice of Blanqueamiento, or whitening, not a neutral mixture but a hierarchical movement wherein valuable movement is upward. Racial mixing oriented by the goal of whitening shows the effectiveness of the logic of White supremacy. As a Latin America-like society, the United States will become a society with more, rather than less, racial inequality but with a reduced forum for racial contestation. The apparent blessing of not seeing race will become a curse for those struggling for racial justice in years to come. We may become All Americans, as commercials in recent times suggest, but paraphrasing George Orwell: some will be more American than others. © 2008 Springer-Verlag New York.


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