
The white-man effect: How foreigner presence affects behavior in experiments - randomwalker
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268115000906
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IllusoryReverb
Making an anecdotal contribution. Kenyan here. I have observed that white
people are given preferential treatment and have (strangely) experienced
racism against black people in my own country. I have, more than once heard
people, mostly uneducated people, saying how much better things would be if we
were still colonized.

Examples of preferential treatment/racism include, faster service for white
people at restaurants and clubs, being denied entry to a club because 'it is
full' and seconds later a couple of white people walk right in, and in one
memorable instance a security guard had the gall to try and deny me an open
parking spot so that a white person could have it instead. The latter got a
stern talking to by me.

All is not positive for the white man though. There is the 'white tax' where
prices are instantly increased when a white person is the one shopping and
people are always hitting them up for money because white people are perceived
to be wealthy.

~~~
ardit33
I hate to say it, but it doesn't have to do much with race, but more of the
perception of "status" of the person.

I have been in Sweden few times (I am white), and when people hear me talk,
and know that I am visiting from NYC, I get a bit of more friendlier service.

Including getting in a club as a single guy, because I had a california ID,
while some Swedish guys were being left outside.

Swedes have a high affinity for America in general, and are extra friendly if
they hear you are from the States, and often (with some small talk) you will
get preferential treatment.

In NYC you will notice this "differential" treatment according to your status
every day. A simple experiment you can run: Go to a good cocktail place/bar
with normal t-shirt/jeans clothes, and go to the same place dressed sharp. You
will get a lot better and faster service if you are dressed really well (and
your perceived status is higher), while if you are dressed like a schlub, you
might not even get in the place.

I think it is not just about race, but more of the perceived status of the
person. It happens that most countries in Africa have very low GDPs, while
most countries in Europe, and north america (US and Canada), have very high
GDP. If you are an average person from those countries, your purchasing power
is higher, and hence you will be given the preferential treatment.

~~~
wutbrodo
I think you might be missing the forest for the trees. Stereotyping based on
race is what you're describing, and it's still racist. Someone in the US
refusing to hire a black guy because black men commit crimes at a higher rate
is "discriminating based on the perception of the person's criminality". That
doesn't mean it isn't discrimination based on race, since their perception is
deriving entirely from "that person is of a race that commits crimes at a
higher rate".

~~~
mc32
What is it called when in Japan patrons (mostly Japanese men) of the pink
industry pay more for Eastern Europeans versus locals or other East Asians? Is
it a fetish or is it racist of them? Or is it simply "exotic"?

~~~
wutbrodo
I assume the pink industry is prostitution? The purpose of prostitution is
almost entirely paying for what someone looks like. I should hope it's clear
that it's not racial stereotyping to say that eastern Europeans have eastern
European features.....throw in the fact that people reasonably tend to make an
exception for racial preferences when it comes to sexuality (i.e. "I'm not
attracted to East Asians" gets a hell of a lot less flak than "I won't hire
east Asians", in large part because it's really damn hard to override
sexuality preference), and it should be clear that your question really has no
bearing on what we're talking about.

~~~
mc32
Yes, that's the industry.

>is almost entirely paying for what someone looks like.

No, not nearly. There may be some aspect of that, but no, people aren't
looking for long-term commitments here. Anecdotally, I've known people who
will not mind dating westerners but would never commit nor have any intention
of marrying them (Social conventions).

That said, my point was more about the dominant society (Japan) where men
express preference superficially based on "race" over another where the
compared ethnicities include non-native. But I'm saying this preference may
not be based on perceived racial ranking, but rather on other reasons, rarity
(exoticism) a social signal (more disposable income), etc. And so I'm saying I
don't think it's certain that the (preferential) treatment of "whites" in
Africa can be strictly assigned to some racial ranking.

I'm also interested to see how Chinese might come to be viewed in the coming
decades in Asia as they become known for their economic prowess and as their
power and influence is felt in the African continent.

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mafribe
Full text here
[http://odube.net/papers/White_man.pdf](http://odube.net/papers/White_man.pdf)

TL;DR: Sierra Leoneans' behaviour is influenced by how they want to be seen by
others, with an aim towards maximising their own benefits.

~~~
josu
Thank you! I'd be nice if the mods could change the link.

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nailer
What are 'dictator games'?

~~~
alwaysmetara
One player, the 'dictator', decides how to split a cash prize between
themselves and the other player, the recipient. The recipient has no input
into how the prize is split.

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dalke
The non-paywalled version of the paper is at
[http://media.withtank.com/1b58f0becf/white_man.pdf](http://media.withtank.com/1b58f0becf/white_man.pdf)
.

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jessaustin
Would "white-person" be more accurate here? Do the authors intend to suggest
that gender contributes to the effect they claim? [edit: removed silly
question]

~~~
fein
I think we all understand what the author meant by "white-man".

There has to be some term for this... The making of unneeded comments on an
article that have nothing to do with the study; PC Pedantry perhaps.

At least one of the authors is a woman.

~~~
rakoo
Good ol' bikeshedding here.

~~~
forrestthewoods
I'd be pretty happy if we had upvotes, downvotes, and a bikeshed button. If
bikeshed comments could be filtered that'd be great.

~~~
seiji
Perhaps something like a lateral vote meaning "the comment may have a point,
but they are derailing the conversation."

Then we could have a "sort by interesting (relevant)" and "sort by interesting
(diverging)".

(lol this is hn, you get no sorting or filtering or on-site messaging)

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notNow
Did they run the same experiment but with people from different backgrounds
and ethnicities excluding Europeans and then compare the respective results
and come up with a conclusion?

Otherwise, it's just a hasty conclusion with unsound methodologies employed in
the process.

~~~
noobermin
Well, I did the reading for you, and the answer is no. The control was a
Sierra Leonean and the test was a white American. Page 8 on the paper (click
one of the links above).

~~~
sp332
However, they did not come to the "conclusion" that notNow accused them of
coming to. "Behavioral measures are increasingly used to infer cross-national
differences in social preferences or to assess aid effectiveness — our results
suggest that we should be cautious in these uses."

