Pretty Integrated? The Causes and Consequences of Immigrants’ Physical Attractiveness on Integration Outcomes

Research question/goal: 

The project investigates the causes and consequences of perceptions of physical attractiveness in the context of immigrant integration. Physical attractiveness has been shown to be a key determinant of life chances in various domains, as attractive people are generally treated more favourably. But everyday perceptions of physical attractiveness may themselves be shaped by cultural distance, ethnic boundaries, and interaction frequency, thus affecting how attractive members of different groups perceive one another. Given that physical attractiveness on the one hand may be a determinant of integration mechanisms but on the other hand is itself subject to social construction, this project examines the link between immigrants’ perceived physical attractiveness and their economic integration.

Current stage: 

We nearly completed our data collection in the past year and finished fieldwork for two factorial surveys and three survey experiments. We are about to complete data collection for our correspondence test, and we will gain access to DeZIM.panel survey data about grooming practices in early 2025. One new manuscript from the project has been published at Scientific Reports, and one manuscript has been conditionally accepted at the European Sociological Review. Two manuscripts are in the review process, and we are currently preparing several more manuscripts based on the results of our newly collected data. We have also presented preliminary results from the correspondence test at several international conferences.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
DFG
Duration: 
2019 to 2025
Status: 
ongoing
Data Sources: 
ALLBUS, pairfam and own data collection: factorial survey experiments, correspondence test
Geographic Space: 
Germany

Publications