ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the numerical quality of minority status, and discusses several important inequality-relevant traits, notably gender, age, ableism, culture. Gender, age, and ableness apply to numerous issues related to social aesthetics. Being of an unequal social status can lead to poor physical appearance. Class bias and appearance bias were clearly evident in the policy and practice of Ugly Laws, as aptly described by Susan Schweik. Ugly Laws permitted legalized prejudice against the poor, with these city ordinances using physical appearance as the means to discriminate against the poor. Stratification by skin color, or colorism, is a long-standing legacy in European cultures, with light-skinned people being the most socially desirable and possessing the most social status. Interracial colorism also operates, of course, with skin tone being a more accurate predictor of social placement than factors such as parental socio-economic status, with the effect of skin color on African Americans socio-economic status being as strong as the impact of race itself.
