Definition of Lookism
(noun) Discrimination or prejudice against someone based on their looks (appearance).
Example of Lookism
- Weightism, a type of lookism that discriminates against an individual because of their weight.
Lookism Pronunciation
Syllabification: look·ism
Audio Pronunciation
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈlʊkˌɪzəm/
- British English – /ˈlʊkɪz(ə)m/
Usage Notes
- Plural: lookisms
Related Quotation
- “[F]avoritism for the attractive and discrimination against the unattractive—creates a structure of unequal opportunity, providing unearned advantages to the attractive and disadvantages to the unattractive. While it is often claimed that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’—that the assessment of attractiveness is a highly subjective matter—in fact there are high levels of agreement about attractiveness that are largely unaffected by the ‘beholder’s’ sex, age, or socioeconomic status. There is even substantial cross-cultural agreement” (McNamee and Miller 2013:208).
Additional Information
- Blaine, Bruce Evan. 2007. Understanding the Psychology of Diversity. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Etcoff, Nancy L. 1999. Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty. New York: Doubleday.
- Hamermesh, Daniel S. 2013. Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People are More Successful. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Miller, Alan S., and Satoshi Kanazawa. 2007. Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire: Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do. New York: Penguin Books.
- O’Brien, Jodi, ed. 2009. Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Sargeant, Malcolm. 2011. Age Discrimination and Diversity: Multiple Discrimination from an Age Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Related Terms
Reference
McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller. 2013. The Meritocracy Myth. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Cite the Definition of Lookism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “lookism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved November 28, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/lookism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
lookism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/lookism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “lookism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/lookism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“lookism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/lookism/>.