Pretty Integrated? Perceptions of immigrants’ physical attractiveness and consequences for integration outcomes

欧洲社会与移民有关的多样性日益增加，激发了人们对理解解释移民融合结果的因素的兴趣。现有的解释主要集中在宏观层面的因素，如融合政策和福利制度，或经典的个人层面的资源，如教育程度，语言水平，和社会资本。然而，到目前为止，学者们忽略了移民融合结果的另一个潜在关键因素：移民的外表吸引力。该项目旨在调查移民融合背景下吸引力认知的原因和后果。外貌吸引力已被证明是各个领域生活机会的关键决定因素，因为有魅力的人通常会受到更好的对待。然而，日常对吸引力的认知本身可能会受到种族界限和文化距离的影响，从而塑造不同群体成员对彼此吸引力的看法。鉴于外貌吸引力可能既是融合的决定因素，也是社会建设的决定因素，本项目有两个主要目标：(I)了解外貌吸引力与移民社会经济融合结果之间的联系，特别是在劳动力市场；(Ii)了解种族边界如何影响对移民外貌吸引力的感知。该项目建议使用广泛的数据和量化研究方法。首先，为了调查外表吸引力对移民融合的影响，我们将结合a)调查数据的分析，包括受访者对受访者吸引力的评分，以及b)原创因素调查实验和c)劳动力市场的实地实验(对应研究)，在其中我们操纵种族和吸引力的信号。其次，为了研究种族界限和文化距离如何影响人们对吸引力的感知，我们将结合a)调查数据的分析和b)额外的原始因素调查，在该调查中我们操纵种族和融合的信号。

Increasing migration-related diversity in European societies has spurred interest in understanding the factors that explain immigrant integration outcomes. Existing explanations have largely focused on either macro-level factors such as integration policies and welfare regimes, or on classical individual-level resources such as educational attainment, language proficiency, and social capital. However, scholars have so far overlooked another potentially crucial factor in immigrants’ integration outcomes: immigrants’ physical attractiveness. The project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of perceptions of 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. However, everyday perceptions of attractiveness may themselves be influenced by ethnic boundaries and cultural distance, thereby shaping how attractive members of different groups perceive one another. Given that physical attractiveness may be both a determinant of integration and itself subject to social construction, this project has two main objectives: (I) to understand the link between physical attractiveness and immigrants’ socioeconomic integration outcomes, especially in the labor market,(II) to understand how perceptions of immigrants’ physical attractiveness are affected by ethnic boundaries. The project proposes to use a wide range of data and quantitative research methods. First, to investigate the consequences of physical attractiveness for immigrant integration, we will combine a) the analysis of survey data, which include interviewer ratings of respondent attractiveness, with b) an original factorial survey experiment and c) a field experiment in the labor market (correspondence study), in which we manipulate signals of ethnicity and attractiveness. Second, to study how perceptions of attractiveness are affected by ethnic boundaries and cultural distance we will combine a) the analysis of survey data with b) an additional original factorial survey, in which we manipulate signals of ethnicity and integration.