Researchers have long documented a persistent Black–White gap in wealth. These studies, however, often treat race as a discrete category, eluding its socially constructed nature. As a result, these studies assume that the “effect of race” is consistent across all individuals racialized as Black. Studies that make this assumption potentially obscure heterogeneity in the size of the Black–White wealth gap. Research on skin color stratification suggests that it is possible that the Black–White wealth gap varies by the extent to which a racial subgroup is deemed to fit the broader racial umbrella. In turn, I adopt a more complex operationalization of race that is based on both racial and skin tone appraisals. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find that the Black–White wealth gap does vary by the Black skin tone subgroup. Generally, the Black–White gap in assets is smallest when focusing on lighter-skin Black people and largest when focusing on darker-skin Black people. These differences are not only the result of initial disadvantage but also cumulative disadvantage in the rate of wealth accumulation. Lastly, the findings suggest that the Black–White wealth gaps grow at a faster rate than the skin tone wealth gaps. I found that differences were robust to adjustments for parental socioeconomic status, childhood background, and interviewer characteristics. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications for our understanding of the mechanisms undergirding Black–White disparities in wealth attainment.

中文翻译：

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色彩主义的累积效应：种族、财富和肤色

长期以来，研究人员一直记录着黑人与白人之间持续存在的财富差距。然而，这些研究通常将种族视为一个独立的类别，避开其社会建构的本质。因此，这些研究假设“种族的影响”在所有被种族化为黑人的个体中是一致的。做出这一假设的研究可能会掩盖黑人与白人贫富差距规模的异质性。对肤色分层的研究表明，黑人与白人的贫富差距可能因种族亚群被认为适合更广泛的种族保护伞的程度而异。反过来，我采用了基于种族和肤色评估的更复杂的种族操作。根据 1997 年全国青年纵向调查的数据，我发现黑人与白人的贫富差距确实因黑人肤色亚群而异。通常，在关注浅肤色黑人时，黑人与白人的资产差距最小，而在关注深肤色黑人时最大。这些差异不仅是初始劣势的结果，也是财富积累速度累积劣势的结果。最后，调查结果表明，黑人与白人贫富差距的增长速度快于肤色贫富差距。我发现差异对于父母社会经济地位、童年背景和面试官特征的调整是稳健的。最后，我讨论了对我们理解支持黑人与白人财富差距的机制的理论意义。黑人与白人的资产差距在关注浅肤色黑人时最小，而在关注深色皮肤黑人时最大。这些差异不仅是初始劣势的结果，也是财富积累速度累积劣势的结果。最后，调查结果表明，黑人与白人贫富差距的增长速度快于肤色贫富差距。我发现差异对于父母社会经济地位、童年背景和面试官特征的调整是稳健的。最后，我讨论了对我们理解支持黑人与白人财富差距的机制的理论意义。黑人与白人的资产差距在关注浅肤色黑人时最小，而在关注深色皮肤黑人时最大。这些差异不仅是初始劣势的结果，也是财富积累速度累积劣势的结果。最后，调查结果表明，黑人与白人贫富差距的增长速度快于肤色贫富差距。我发现差异对于父母社会经济地位、童年背景和面试官特征的调整是稳健的。最后，我讨论了对我们理解支持黑人与白人财富差距的机制的理论意义。这些差异不仅是初始劣势的结果，也是财富积累速度累积劣势的结果。最后，调查结果表明，黑人与白人贫富差距的增长速度快于肤色贫富差距。我发现差异对于父母社会经济地位、童年背景和面试官特征的调整是稳健的。最后，我讨论了对我们理解支持黑人与白人财富差距的机制的理论意义。这些差异不仅是初始劣势的结果，也是财富积累速度累积劣势的结果。最后，调查结果表明，黑人与白人贫富差距的增长速度快于肤色贫富差距。我发现差异对于父母社会经济地位、童年背景和面试官特征的调整是稳健的。最后，我讨论了对我们理解支持黑人与白人财富差距的机制的理论意义。