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 American Society Viewed from Youths’ Lens: A Study on Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”

Lexicon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fauzan Rodi ◽  
Rahmawan Jatmiko
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Baby Boomer ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Baby Boomer Generation ◽  
Bob Dylan ◽  
Sociological Literature ◽  
American Society ◽  
The 1960S

This study examines the lyric of a famous song entitled A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall composed by American folk musician, Bob Dylan. The objective of this study is to analyze the perspective of the baby-boomer generation, which remarkably differs from that of the older generations in terms of their attitude on certain issues such as war, social injustice, racism and equality in the 1960s America. All of these are reflected in the lyric of the song and also in the sociological and historical facts around the time when the work was created. The approach of sociological literature is employed in this study, which is chosen for the analysis to start from the assumption that the meaning of the lyrics is seen as the reflection of what happens in the society. This is also to reconfirm that a literary work can be used as a means of analyzing a period of time and, therefore, giving insights as to how the general public think about it.

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 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.

scholarly journals The Art of Hunger: Autodestruction and resistance in Paul Auster’s Moon Palace

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Laura Arce Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Paul Auster ◽  
Urban Experience ◽  
American Society ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
La Luna

ABSTRACT: In his novel Moon Palace (1989) Paul Auster depicts the urban experience of a character who, under the pressure of his urban and social environment, starts a process of autodestruction of his body and identity as a metaphor of the relationship between the individual and the America of the 1960s. In this article, my intention is to show how Auster uses hunger and autodestruction to create a space of resistance against American society and the American dream and thus imagine a new identity of the American individual by creating a new existential space. Título en español: “El arte del hambre: autodestrucción y resistencia en El palacio de la luna de Paul Auster”RESUMEN: En su novela El palacio de la luna (1989) Paul Auster describe la experiencia de un personaje que, bajo la presión urbana y social de su entorno, comienza un proceso de autodestrucción de su cuerpo y su identidad como metáfora de la relación entre el individuo y la América de los años sesenta. En este artículo, mi intención es mostrar como Auster utiliza el hambre y la autodestrucción para crear un espacio de resistencia contra la sociedad americana y el sueño americano y así imaginar una nueva identidad del individuo americano creando un nuevo espacio existencial.

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.

scholarly journals How Other Minorities Gained Access: The War on Poverty and Asian American and Latino Community Organizing

2020 ◽  
pp. 106591292098345
Author(s):  
Jae Yeon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Community Organizing ◽  
War On Poverty ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

In the early twentieth century, Asian Americans and Latinos organized along national origin lines and focused on assimilation; By the 1960s and 1970s, community organizers from both groups began to form panethnic community service organizations (CSOs) that emphasized solidarity. I argue that focusing on the rise of panethnic CSOs reveals an underappreciated mechanism that has mobilized Asian Americans and Latinos—the welfare state. The War on Poverty programs incentivized non-black minority community organizers to form panethnic CSOs to gain access to state resources and serve the economically disadvantaged in their communities. Drawing on extensive archival research, I identify this mechanism and test it with my original dataset of 818 Asian American and Latino advocacy organizations and CSOs. Leveraging the Reagan budget cut, I show that dismantling the War on Poverty programs reduced the founding rate of panethnic CSOs. I further estimated that a 1 percent increase in federal funding was associated with the increase of the two panethnic CSOs during the War on Poverty. The findings demonstrate how access to state resources forces activists among non-primary beneficiary groups to build new political identities that fit the dominant image of the policy beneficiaries.

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