To understand the sociological causation behind Indian obsession over fairness, we need first
to comprehend the definition of conflict theory. It is said that the German philosopher Karl
Marx laid the foundations for the paradigm of conflict theory to emerge (Sweeney, 2017,
00:29). Marx believed in the forces of production and the labour that enabled it. Via his
economic perspective on the functioning of the world, he stated that these forces created two
groups of people: the Proletariat or the working class/labourers and the Bourgeoise or the
middle class/property-owners. By presenting the existence of these two groups in the capitalist
world, Marx introduced the idea of a "class conflict". He explained that the labour of the
working class created a surplus in the economy which the property-owners gained as profits
thereby leaving less in wage for the labourers leading them to revolt against the system. The
class conflict concept served as the basic idea behind conflict theory; that in society, there will
always be an arena of inequalities. This notion went unreservedly against the functionalist
theory proposed by Durkheim and Comte (two other well-renowned sociologists), both of
whom believed in a universal consensus for changes in society.
Born out of Marx's ideas were Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician, and his theory of hegemony (Sweeney, 2017, 09:25). Gramsci demonstrates the emergence of class tensions as a result of a hegemonic culture wherein a few dominant set of values and beliefs so permeate the society that they eventually become the norm. Due to the contributions of Marx and Gramsci, conflict theorists today regard social divisions and power struggles to be inquired continuously and to have great importance. They examine the workings of such inequalities that often create dominant groups and disadvantaged groups, which are entangled in endless power dynamics. They firmly believe that the norms that get created due to the influence of such dominant factors/groups exist all around us, especially having substantial impacts on gender, race, ethnicity and class, and help drive social change. That brings us to the discussion of colourism and Indians' obsession over fair skin.
Colourism is a prejudiced conviction against dark-skinned people. It arises out of the belief that white denotes purity and cleanliness, whereas darker shades indicate dirt and filth. Prof. Shehzad Nadeem in his work on the skin-lightening endeavours of India deliberates that colourism in the country dates back to the advent of the so-called fair-skinned Aryan race and their subjugation of the dark-skinned Dravidians (2014). The caste system, Jati, the Aryans introduced was said to be based on Varna or colour. It mandated that upper caste people like the Brahmins be fair while lower castes, Sudras, be dark (Nadeem, 2014). He reinstates that the preoccupation with fairness only intensified over time, especially with colonialism and the influence of the Mughals, Portuguese, Dutch and the British. He credits the British for creating the stereotype, through their delegation of work in government, that fair Indians were more intelligent and attractive whereas their darker counterparts dimwitted and ugly. Finally, Nadeem establishes that from the workings of these ideas put forth by invaders and colonisers, the race for fair skin began in the country. And today, its impact on the nation is appalling.
Born out of Marx's ideas were Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician, and his theory of hegemony (Sweeney, 2017, 09:25). Gramsci demonstrates the emergence of class tensions as a result of a hegemonic culture wherein a few dominant set of values and beliefs so permeate the society that they eventually become the norm. Due to the contributions of Marx and Gramsci, conflict theorists today regard social divisions and power struggles to be inquired continuously and to have great importance. They examine the workings of such inequalities that often create dominant groups and disadvantaged groups, which are entangled in endless power dynamics. They firmly believe that the norms that get created due to the influence of such dominant factors/groups exist all around us, especially having substantial impacts on gender, race, ethnicity and class, and help drive social change. That brings us to the discussion of colourism and Indians' obsession over fair skin.
Colourism is a prejudiced conviction against dark-skinned people. It arises out of the belief that white denotes purity and cleanliness, whereas darker shades indicate dirt and filth. Prof. Shehzad Nadeem in his work on the skin-lightening endeavours of India deliberates that colourism in the country dates back to the advent of the so-called fair-skinned Aryan race and their subjugation of the dark-skinned Dravidians (2014). The caste system, Jati, the Aryans introduced was said to be based on Varna or colour. It mandated that upper caste people like the Brahmins be fair while lower castes, Sudras, be dark (Nadeem, 2014). He reinstates that the preoccupation with fairness only intensified over time, especially with colonialism and the influence of the Mughals, Portuguese, Dutch and the British. He credits the British for creating the stereotype, through their delegation of work in government, that fair Indians were more intelligent and attractive whereas their darker counterparts dimwitted and ugly. Finally, Nadeem establishes that from the workings of these ideas put forth by invaders and colonisers, the race for fair skin began in the country. And today, its impact on the nation is appalling.
Unilever's Fair & Lovely for women and Emami's Fair & Handsom for men marked the age
when the advertising industry and the corporate world began to play havoc with the innocent,
vulnerable and anxious minds of the Indian middle class (2014). The colourist and underlyingly
racist ads these beauty companies showcased on TVs and billboards, showed successful and
fair celebrities/models promoting skin-whitening products that presumably allowed them to be
happy and prosperous in their work environment, marriage and so on. The ads openly and
unapologetically claimed that women wouldn't be attracted to dark men; dark women won't get
jobs or good pay or worse get a prospective husband. By playing into deep-seated fears and
insecurities, the ads permanently convinced their consumers of the importance and advantages
of having fair skin. They encouraged consumers to stand-out and aspire to be like the privileged
"other", asking them to "whitewash" themselves instead of helping whitewash the colourist
prejudices and inequalities with their influential work (Nadeem, 2014).
Another huge contributor to fairness biases in the country is matrimonial sites. Two researchers from Seattle University conducted a study that investigated the profiles, preferences and success stories wedding photos of people signed into four Indian matrimonial websites (2009). Their findings showed the obvious: dark-skinned women were seen to be undesirable and invisible on the sites as potential life partners. The researchers profess that a few components of the web design itself may influence these results. First is the menu options that are colour discriminative with drop-down preferences for different shades of skin colour. The researchers claim that the very existence of such a layout itself would act as a cue for prospective suitors to begin thinking about skin tone even if they had previously not considered mentioning it in their requirements. Secondly, the profile pictures on potential brides' accounts and images of success stories play a huge role in indicating the types of women who receive the most number of suitors. The study's results showed that light-skinned brides in these virtual images immediately invalidated dark-skinned women's eligibility in the e-marriage market (Jha & Adelman, 2009).
Another huge contributor to fairness biases in the country is matrimonial sites. Two researchers from Seattle University conducted a study that investigated the profiles, preferences and success stories wedding photos of people signed into four Indian matrimonial websites (2009). Their findings showed the obvious: dark-skinned women were seen to be undesirable and invisible on the sites as potential life partners. The researchers profess that a few components of the web design itself may influence these results. First is the menu options that are colour discriminative with drop-down preferences for different shades of skin colour. The researchers claim that the very existence of such a layout itself would act as a cue for prospective suitors to begin thinking about skin tone even if they had previously not considered mentioning it in their requirements. Secondly, the profile pictures on potential brides' accounts and images of success stories play a huge role in indicating the types of women who receive the most number of suitors. The study's results showed that light-skinned brides in these virtual images immediately invalidated dark-skinned women's eligibility in the e-marriage market (Jha & Adelman, 2009).
Moreover, the prospects for a dark-skinned girl is more humiliating for her identity than just a
rejection from a marriage service site. In his article, Nadeem exposes an interview conducted
by NDTV, where an advertising agent talks about the difference between a dark and fair girl
saying that the former he would "take to a hotel room" while the latter "to his mommy"
(Nadeem, 2014). The above reinstates the age-old stereotype of dark being filthy, so you don't
treat it with respect but do view it as sexy and sensuous whereas white being pure and therefore
you consider it to be beautiful and pretty. Such re-telling of past prejudices has grown so out
of control that in today's internet age, women and girls have shifted from the time-consuming
and costly benefits of skin-bleaching products to Instagram and Snapchat filters that make them
look fair, shiny and glamourous (Varghese, 2017). In hindsight, these trends expose a grave
reality: no matter how much the world advances, biases and prejudices will follow parallel to
such growth.
Therefore, Indians' obsession with fair skin emerges from the previously mentioned cultural hegemony based on underlying racist and classist colourism. It showcases an apparent dominant group, the fair-skinned upper-caste and upper-class Indians and the disadvantaged groups being the lower-caste people of darker complexion. Therefore, colourism has deep- rooted connections to a need for higher status, power and unfortunately, a side-effect of increased poverty lines. Also, the forces - like those in Marx's economic market model involving labourers and profiteers - that enable and strengthen such social divisions are the advertising industry, matrimonial sites and in recent years, social media. In Nadeem's words, these forces intensify "the profanely ordered stratification of class; the divinely ordained hierarchies of caste; the racially coded contours of the global system" (Nadeem, 2014, pg.228). But to blame this skin-based social evil solely on these forces is inconsiderate of history. These forces are able to thrive in creating such social tensions because they can leech off of our pre- existing prejudices, biases and fears to which they market their products and services. Hence, though conflict theory talks of the need for tension to enable social transformations, this race for fair-skin is anything but "social". This obsession stems from a narcissistic point of view of standing out and demonstrating a looking-down attitude towards individuality that is demeaning and demotivating to others who also are consumed unnecessarily into such a race. Conclusively, it is the class and caste-based discriminations of ancient times, that have created this dark skin prejudice up until current times. It is this conflict between the dark and the fair that also reflects the inequality between the rich and the poor in our country.
Therefore, Indians' obsession with fair skin emerges from the previously mentioned cultural hegemony based on underlying racist and classist colourism. It showcases an apparent dominant group, the fair-skinned upper-caste and upper-class Indians and the disadvantaged groups being the lower-caste people of darker complexion. Therefore, colourism has deep- rooted connections to a need for higher status, power and unfortunately, a side-effect of increased poverty lines. Also, the forces - like those in Marx's economic market model involving labourers and profiteers - that enable and strengthen such social divisions are the advertising industry, matrimonial sites and in recent years, social media. In Nadeem's words, these forces intensify "the profanely ordered stratification of class; the divinely ordained hierarchies of caste; the racially coded contours of the global system" (Nadeem, 2014, pg.228). But to blame this skin-based social evil solely on these forces is inconsiderate of history. These forces are able to thrive in creating such social tensions because they can leech off of our pre- existing prejudices, biases and fears to which they market their products and services. Hence, though conflict theory talks of the need for tension to enable social transformations, this race for fair-skin is anything but "social". This obsession stems from a narcissistic point of view of standing out and demonstrating a looking-down attitude towards individuality that is demeaning and demotivating to others who also are consumed unnecessarily into such a race. Conclusively, it is the class and caste-based discriminations of ancient times, that have created this dark skin prejudice up until current times. It is this conflict between the dark and the fair that also reflects the inequality between the rich and the poor in our country.
Bibliography
- Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2017). Chapter 1. In Sociology (8th ed., pp. 3–30). Atlantic Publishers & Distributors Pvt Ltd.
- Jha, S., & Adelman, M. (2009). Looking for Love in All the White Places: A Study of Skin Color Preferences on Indian Matrimonial and Mate-Seeking Websites. Studies in South Asian Film & Media, 1(1), 65–83. doi: 10.1386/safm.1.1.65_1
- Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology #6. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3igiwaeyc
- Nadeem, S. (2014). Fair and anxious: on mimicry and skin-lightening in India. Social Identities, 20(2-3), 224–238. doi: 10.1080/13504630.2014.881282
- Varghese, J. (2017). RESEARCH REPORT Fair (?) & Lovely: Ideas of beauty among young migrant women. Women's Studios, 31(1).
- Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2017). Chapter 1. In Sociology (8th ed., pp. 3–30). Atlantic Publishers & Distributors Pvt Ltd.
- Jha, S., & Adelman, M. (2009). Looking for Love in All the White Places: A Study of Skin Color Preferences on Indian Matrimonial and Mate-Seeking Websites. Studies in South Asian Film & Media, 1(1), 65–83. doi: 10.1386/safm.1.1.65_1
- Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology #6. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3igiwaeyc
- Nadeem, S. (2014). Fair and anxious: on mimicry and skin-lightening in India. Social Identities, 20(2-3), 224–238. doi: 10.1080/13504630.2014.881282
- Varghese, J. (2017). RESEARCH REPORT Fair (?) & Lovely: Ideas of beauty among young migrant women. Women's Studios, 31(1).
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