If your name is Kevin Li, you are more likely to land that rental property you wanted than if your name is Mark Anderson, Luis García, or Tyrone Johnson.
According to a recent study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, when it comes to potential male renters, those with Asian-sounding names are more likely to receive a response from a landlord to an email inquiry about an advertised rental apartment than those with Caucasian, Hispanic, or African-American-sounding names.
Besides names indicating ethnicity, the study also confirmed that gender-implying names affect responses from potential landlords; women experienced 40.8 per cent positive responses when inquiring about an advertised rental apartment, whereas men experienced a success of only 27.1 per cent.
Allyson Weseley, co-author of the study, told The Peak that the results show stereotypes of minority groups and gender can affect opportunities in the rental process. “Research has shown that people of Asian descent and white women are typically stereotyped as quiet, timid, and responsible,” Weseley stated, “[whereas] most men and Latino and African-American women are stereotyped as loud, aggressive, and other qualities less likely to be valued in a tenant.”
Weseley, a behavioural science teacher with degrees from Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia University, and fellow author Michelle Feldman, became interested in conducting this study back in 2010 when Feldman had read an article which suggested that African American males were disadvantaged in the housing market. “We became interested in extending the work to look at people with Asian, Latino, and female sounding names,” Weseley said.
The study was conducted from 2010-2012, where nearly 1,600 email inquiries were sent out to landlords with various names signed — based on US census’ record of the most common names by race.
Of the results, Feldman said: “The Asian-American prospective tenant received more positive responses with a 34 per cent response rate compared to the African-American prospective male tenant who barely received any positive responses, with only a 16 per cent response rate.”
The results were slightly different for women, with white females seeing more positive responses than Asian, followed by Hispanic and African-American females.
“This data shows that our society continues to rely on underlying stereotypes,” Feldman said. “This can prevent individuals that have racially/ethically sounding names from having equal opportunities.” Feldman concluded that these stereotypes contribute to the formation of segregated neighbourhoods.
Feldman, a current student at Cornell University studying Biology & Society, is interested in further exploring how segregated areas affect individual’s access to quality healthcare. “It would also be interesting to see if there is correlation between racial [or] ethnic names and health insurance costs,” Feldman stated.
“Stereotyping is present even without any face-to-face interaction,” Feldman concluded, “Although our country has made great strides when it comes to limiting the amount of racism present in our society, a person’s name can continue to be used as a means to discriminate when it indicates an individual’s race or ethnicity.”
