“Shopping While Black”: Racial Profiling by Retailers
Joshua Francois, Chelsea Marigliano-Nardella, & Zachary A. Sanichar
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Introduction
The term “Shopping While Black” relates to:
ƒOvert discrimination by store retailers
ƒRevenue-based Statistical Discrimination
(The exclusion of Black consumers in order
to cater to other customers)
ƒCost-based Statistical Discrimination
(subconscious racism)
Data Collection and Findings
The purpose of this study was to discover whether or not college students feel
discriminated against while they are shopping in stores.
ƒ Support Congressional legislation that
penalizes retail department stores
ƒ Criminalize conduct of retailers
Demographics of the Participants: Twenty (20) students enrolled in a First-Year Seminar
at JJC, ages 17-19 years old answered the question, Whether retailers racially profiled JJC
students based on their race and/or ethnicity?
ƒ Draft a Consumer Bill of Rights with
federal penalties
ƒ Permit federal civil rights law suits
ƒ Jones v. Alfred Mayer Co. (1968) If Congress
were powerless to assure that a dollar in the
hands of a Negro will purchase the same thing
as a dollar in the hands of a white man. At the
very least, the freedom that Congress is
empowered to secure under the Thirteenth
Amendment includes the freedom to buy
whatever a white man can buy, the right to
live wherever a white man can live. If Congress
cannot say that being a free man means at
least this much, then the Thirteenth
Amendment made a promise the Nation
cannot keep.
ƒStereotype assumption Blacks are likelier
than others to commit crimes and are less
credit-worthy.
Research Question
Based on racial and/or ethnic background, are
college-aged students (17-19) victims of racial
profiling by retailers?
Background
Recommendations
Findings
ƒ Boycott retailers accused of racial profiling,
in-store and the Internet
ƒ Boycott Black Friday and other major retail
store sales
ƒ Black Shoppers Matter!
References
ƒ Bennett, A. M., Hill, R. P., & Daddario, K. (January 01, 2015). Shopping
While Nonwhite: Racial Discrimination among Minority
Consumers. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 49, 2, 328-355.
ƒ Harris, A. M. G., Henderson, G. R., & Williams, J. D. (2005). Courting
customers: Assessing consumer racial profiling and other marketplace
discrimination. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 24(1), 163-171.
ƒ Gabbidon S. (2003). Racial Profiling by Store Clerks and Security
Personnel in Retail Establishments. Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice. 19(3). 345-364.
ƒ Goldsmith, R. E., Newell, S. J., & Heiens, R. A. (2015). A Reexamination
of Some Black/White Consumption Differences. In Proceedings of the
1993 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp.
20-23). Springer International Publishing.
ƒ Schreer, G. E., Smith, S., & Thomas, K. (2009). “Shopping While Black”:
Examining Racial Discrimination in a Retail Setting1. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, 39(6), 1432-1444.
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