The Myth of Ethnic Success

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Epistemic Justification ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Fatal Flaw ◽  
American Society

Since its inception, social science has spawned a succession of theories that purport to explain differential rates of ethnic mobility as a byproduct of the cultural values of the groups themselves. The fatal flaw of these theories is that they reify culture by failing to examine its anchorage in history and social structure, eliding the very factors that produce and reproduce these value systems. This chapter critiques two theoretical propositions that currently pervade both popular and scholarly discourses: the projection of Asian Americans as “a model minority” and the supposition that black underachievement is the result of “acting white.” It is argued that these theories provide epistemic justification for the cleavages of race and class that continue to rend American society.

Model Minority

2015 ◽  
pp. 259-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Sy de Jesus
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Paradoxical Effect ◽  
Exceptional Group ◽  
American Society ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Societal Relations

Since the 1960s, Asian Americans have been hailed as the model minority of American society. Seen as the exceptional group of immigrants and the example of successful assimilation, they are presumed to have achieved the American Dream and to be free from racialization. This chapter disrupts the idealization of the myth by analyzing the ways it contributes to maintaining social injustice. Grounded in Michel Foucault's (1977) notion of the norm, this analysis demonstrates how an affirmative stereotype that reflects exceptionality and exemplariness fosters and reproduces relations of discrimination and alienation. Butler's (2004) work on vulnerability is used to illuminate how this paradoxical effect of the norm takes place through the structuring of relations between Asian Americans and White mainstream Americans, between Asian Americans and other minorities, as well as among Asian Americans. This chapter challenges the reader to re-examine the myth and to explore ways to transform societal relations.

scholarly journals Commentary: Persistence and Health-Related Consequences of the Model Minority Stereotype for Asian Americans

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella S. Yi ◽  
Simona C. Kwon ◽  
Rachel Sacks ◽  
Chau Trinh-Shevrin
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Model Minority Stereotype ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
American Society ◽  
Racial Ethnic

<p>Fifty years ago, the term model minority was coined to describe the extraordinary ability of Asian Americans to overcome hardship to succeed in American society. Less well-known is how the model minority stereotype was cultivated within the context of Black-White race relations during the second half of the 20th  century, and how this stereotype, in turn, has contributed to the understanding and prioritization of health disparities experienced by Asian Americans. The objectives of this article are to define the model minority stereotype, present its controversies, and provide examples of its social and health-related consequences (ie, implications for obesity and tobacco) across multiple levels of society and institutions. A salient theme throughout the examples provided is the limitation of data presented at the aggregate level across all Asian subgroups which masks meaningful disparities. The intent is to increase the visibility of Asian Americans as a racial/ethnic minority group experiencing chronic disease health disparities and deserving of health-related resources and consideration. <em>Ethn Dis</em>. 2016;26(1):133-138;doi:10.18865/ed.26.1.133</p>

The Racialization of the African-American and Asian-American Citizen: A Comparative Legal Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Mallory Yung
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
American Citizen

The perception of racial tensions in North American settler countries has historically been focused on the Black/White relationship, as has much of the theoretical legal discourse surrounding the concept of “race”. Accordingly, the scope of much critical race scholarship has been restricted such that it rarely acknowledges the racial tensions that persist between different racially-excluded minorities. This paper hopes to expand and integrate the examination of Black and Asian-American racialization that critical race scholars have previously revealed. It will do this by historicizing the respective contours of Black and Asian-American racialization processes through legislation and landmark court cases in a neo-colonial context. The defining features of racialization which have culminated in the ultimate divergence of each group’s racialization will be compared and contrasted. This divergence sees the differential labeling of Asian-Americans as the ‘model minority’ while Blacks continue to be subjugated by modern modalities of exclusionary systems of control. The consequences of this divergence in relation to preserving existing racial and social hierarchies will be discussed in the final sections of this paper.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Excel in Business but Not without Risks

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Bill Imada
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Significant Growth ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
American Society ◽  
The U.S

In recent years, data has shown that there has been significant growth in Asian American Pacific Islander-owned (AAPI) enterprises. Driven by demographic changes, related in large part to the history of immigration policy, the AAPI population has been growing, and this has been accompanied by AAPI innovators and entrepreneurs leaving greater marks on American society and the U.S. economy. This growth, however, is not without risks and threats. The legacy of being “othered” by mainstream society means that AAPI success in business and in the corporate landscape can be met with resentment and criticism. This article explores the history of AAPI entrepreneurship and current trends. It also examines the challenges that the community may continue to face and offers recommendations on how to ensure continued growth and expanded opportunities for AAPIs in business.

Immigration, Multiculturalism, and the Social Contract

1997 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Heath
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Institutional Expectations ◽  
Internal Coherence

Since the failure of the Meech Lake constitutional reforms and the crisis of national unity prompted by the most recent Quebec referendum, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act has been subjected to particularly intense and hostile scrutiny. While some of the criticism of this policy reflects merely parochial adherence to particular cultural or religious traditions, some of it has raised more significant doubts about the internal coherence, efficacy, and overall desirability of the policy. Most importantly, the multiculturalism policy is faulted for attempting to pursue two simultaneously unachievable goals, viz., to integrate ethnic minority groups into the dominant institutions of the society, while at the same time to protect them against various pressures to assimilate to the dominant culture. Critics have pointed out that social institutions and cultural values are interdependent. Not only do cultural value systems provide the central legitimations for social institutions, but the internalization of these values through socialization processes provides agents with their primary motivation for conforming to institutional expectations. This means that integrating an agent into a system of institutions can only be achieved by assimilating the agent to its underlying cultural system.

scholarly journals Status of Women in Nepal: A Critical Analysis of Transformational Trajectories

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 123-127
Author(s):  
Umesh Prasad Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Cultural Legacies ◽  
Status Of Women

Gender equations in any society are more or less anchored to cultural legacies. Nepali cosmologies constructed based on Hindu religious tradition, manifests the provision of Vedic societies in its present-day social structure, especially in gender. In the ancient times, women enjoyed equal rights and privileges as men, but with the rise of nation states, incidents of wars and conflicts multiplied for territorial expanse and security. This put male on the preference as martial and warring gender, and women started being confined to domestic responsibilities. This slowly crept into the social structure, and women have been suffering since then for lack of basic rights. The status is, however, changing because of recent political developments, that not only educated women vis-à-vis their rights, but also empowered them for various economic and social activities that contributed to their self-reliance. This article critically analyses changing value systems in the Nepalese society and the corresponding social and political transformation that has greatly altered the status of women. Much is yet to be done to bring the two genders in an equitable footing, but the gradual changes are a welcome sign towards gender equality and self-reliance.

The Mean is Not Enough: Using Quantile Regression to Examine Trends in Asian–White Differences Across the Entire Achievement Distribution

2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (5) ◽  
pp. 1274-1295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros Konstantopoulos
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Quantile Regression ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
White Students ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
High Achievers

Background In recent years, Asian Americans have been consistently described as a model minority. The high levels of educational achievement and educational attainment are the main determinants for identifying Asian Americans as a model minority. Nonetheless, only a few studies have examined empirically the accomplishments of Asian Americans, and even fewer studies have compared their achievement with other important societal groups such as Whites. In addition, differences in academic achievement between Asian Americans and Whites across the entire achievement distribution, or differences in the variability of the achievement distribution, have not been documented. However, this is an important task because it provides information about the achievement gap for lower, average, and higher achieving students. Purpose The present study examines differences in academic achievement between Asian American and White students in average scores (e.g., middle of the achievement distribution), in extreme scores (e.g., the upper and the lower tails of the achievement distribution), and in the variability of the achievement distribution. The main objective of this study is to determine the achievement gap between Asian American and White students in the lower and upper tails of the achievement distribution to shed some light on whether the achievement gap between the two groups varies by achievement level. Participants I use data from four national probability samples of high school seniors to examine Asian American–White differences in achievement from 1972 to 1992. Specifically, I used data from the base year of the NLS (NLS:72), the base year of the High School and Beyond (HSB) survey of 1980, the first follow-up of the HSB survey in 1982 (that is HSB:80, HSB:82), and the second follow-up of NELS (NELS:92). Research Design The study is correlational and uses quantile regression to analyze observational data from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Findings The findings indicate that the Asian American–White gap is more pronounced in mathematics than in reading. In 1992, the gap in the middle and the upper tail of the mathematics distribution is greater than one third of a SD, which is not a trivial gap in education. In reading, the gap is overall smaller, and nearly one third of a SD in 1992 in the upper tail (favoring Asian students). Conclusions It appears that Asian American students are indeed a model minority group that performs not only at similar levels but also at higher levels than the majority group, especially among high achievers in mathematics (and reading in the 1990s).

Against the Odds

The Race Card ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 79-108
Author(s):  
Tara Fickle
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Economic Mobility ◽  
Model Minority Myth ◽  
Games Of Chance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Narrative Function ◽  
The Way

This chapter uses games of chance to illustrate the overlooked kinship between the appeal that hardworking Asian Americans held for white sociologists and the appeal that gambling held for Asian Americans. In other words, the chapter emphasizes again the formal symmetry between the way both parties were using gambling to try to rationalize larger paradoxes in cultural theories of race and economic mobility by reframing immigration and social mobility as a risk-taking opportunity. Gambling served an ideational narrative function that is made clear through its representations in both literary and journalistic fictions of the model minority. The model minority myth was, from that perspective, essentially a racialized version of the gambling narrative, wherein Asian Americans modeled a new way of representing and explaining the relationship between past and future, merit and heredity.

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