Beauty Bias

"Dr. Berry provides a cogent and accessible analysis of the long-standing discrimination the less-than-lovely face daily. Her humanistic and jargon-free coverage of what it is like to be denied access and opportunity and to have your value as a human being called into question simply because you're not tall, slender, and beautiful enough is located both in the worlds of scholarly rigor and experiential closeness. Insightful, provocative, and compelling, this book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the myriad costs and consequences of fetish-ed beauty in 21st century America." -- Stephen L. Muzzatti, Ryerson University, author of Reflections from the Wrong Side of the Tracks "Beauty Bias: Discrimination and Social Power moves the few works we have on appearance to a new level, surpassing even the previous important work by Jean Kilbourne." -- Earl Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University "Beauty Bias is a welcome and necessary text. Berry tackles the complexities of appearance and how it is related to gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability status, and more. This book examines this topic historically, scientifically, psychologically, economically, and most importantly, critically." -- Joanne Belknap, Ph.D. Professor, Sociology, University of Colorado, Author, The Invisible Woman "Berry's treatment of physical appearance in the workplace is especially important." -- Rosemary Erickson, President, Athena Research Corporation "A fascinating and authoritative account of looks-based judgments and discriminations, Beauty Bias should be required reading for everyone who has a stake in how they (and how we) look--that is, for everyone. Berry's book is important both for the sheer amount of research it conveys and for the ways of thinking she models." -- Susan Schweik, Associate Professor, University of California at Berkeley

Society is fixated on looks and celebrities, but how we look has deep ramifications for ordinary people too. This book explains how social inequality pertains to prejudice and discrimination against people based on their physical appearance. It discusses the pressures to be attractive and the methods by which we strive to alter our appearance.Society has always been fixated on looks and celebrities, but how we look has deep ramifications for ordinary people too. In this book, Bonnie Berry explains how social inequality pertains to prejudice and discrimination against people based on their physical appearance. This form of inequality overlaps with other, better-known forms of inequality such as those that result from sexism, racism, ageism, and classism. Social inequality regarding looks is notable in a number of settings: work, medical treatment, romance, and marriage, to mention a few. It is experienced as limitations on access to social power. Berry discusses the pressures to be attractive and the methods by which we strive to alter our appearance through plastic surgery, cosmetics, and the like. Berry also discusses cultural factors, such as the manner in which globalization of media, advertisements, and movies have trended toward homogenization, whereby we are all encouraged to appear tall, thin, white, and with Northern European features even if we are none of those things. She also analyzes the underlying social forces such as economic incentives that, on the one hand, channel us to be as physically acceptable as possible via the sale of diet pills and skin lighteners, and on the other hand, encourage us to accept ourselves as we are by selling us plus-size clothing. The book concludes with suggestions for equal rights extended to all regardless of appearance. Here, Berry describes budding social movements and grassroots endeavors toward an acceptance of looks diversity.