What The Experts Say I

In this post I would like to give an example of an academic article that was written on the subject of lookism. This article says that according to a recent study, people with an attractive appearance are more likely to get an award at work than people with an unattractive appearance. For both men and women, the results "suggest a 7–9 percent penalty for being among the 9% smallest among all workers, and a 5% bonus for being among the 33% best” (Hamermesh and Biddle 1994, p 1186). Similar results were obtained in a study involving lawyers (Biddle and Hamermesh 1998, pp. 172–201). Also, this article contains an interview with Hamermesh, one of the main researchers in most labor market research. In this interview, he says: "hiring attractive staff has proven to be a successful strategy for some companies." He also studied 250 Dutch companies and concluded that “agencies in which managers looked better are actually much better.” In another interview, he said, “Good-looking employees who interact with company customers pay more from year after year, and this fact is enhanced when these good-looking employees inspire others and also increase their productivity.” This article also gave examples of the statements of other professionals in their field, they all have one point of view: beauty standards media imposes on us, harm people, and the issue of lookism was, is and will be among our society.

References:

Tietje, L., & Cresap, S. (2005). Is lookism unjust?: The ethics of aesthetics and public policy implications. Journal of libertarian studies, 19(2), 31-50.