Model minority
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
Model minority refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. This success is typically measured in income, education, and related factors such as low crime rate and high family stability. Critics of this terminology say that it amounts to racial stereotyping, and that its use may be a political tool and its implications incite jealousy and fighting among ethnic minorities, an example of leveraging majority power dynamics to provoke ill sentiments between minority groups.
Some doubt the model minority thesis, which is that Asian Americans can easily assimilate into America due to their hard work and family values, among other positive common traits. The denial of the assimilation possibilities of Asian Americans is based on the belief that only whiteness enables entrance into dominant mainstream society. Since Asian Americans are not white, this line of reasoning suggests they cannot be full Americans.
Background
The term "model minority" was coined in the mid-1960s by William Petersen to describe Asian Americans as ethnic minorities who, despite marginalisation, have achieved success in the United States[1].
The purpose was to provide a comparison of capitalist and socialist economies: as capitalism was equated with inequality, particularly in reference to poor African Americans, Asian Americans were chosen as an example of a minority group who could succeed by "merit" alone.[2] Modelminority.com writes: "While superficially complimentary to Asian Americans, the real purpose and effect of this portrayal is to celebrate the status quo in race relations. First, by over-emphasizing Asian American success, it de-emphasizes the problems Asian Americans continue to face from racial discrimination in all areas of public and private life. Second, by misrepresenting Asian American success as proof that the US provides equal opportunities for those who conform and work hard, it excuses US society from careful scrutiny on issues of race in general, and on the persistence of racism against Asian Americans in particular."[3]
The term regularly provides justification for anti-anti-discriminitory practices (see affirmative action) and racialist comparisons between minority groups.
Asian Americans
In as little as 100 years of American history, stereotypes of Asian Americans have changed from portraying a "bucked-toothed, slanted-eyed, uncivilized yellow peril" to portraying a hard-working, musically talented, and mathematically brilliant model minority. [1] Constituting over four percent of the U.S. population in 2000, Asian Americans have exceeded 25 percent of some of America's most prestigious private universities, and outnumber European Americans at many University of California campuses. Asian Americans are spoken of as a 'model minority' group because the group has been argued to be more successful comparatively than other minority groups. In this context, the term Asian Americans is used primarily to describe those of East Asian descent or South Asians (especially in Great Britain), specifically Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans and Indian Americans. According to the United States 2000 Census, the median household income of Asian Americans is $55,521. Per capita household income is slightly lower than that of European Americans.
As of 2000, about 44% of Asian Americans ages 25 or above held a bachelor's degree or higher , as compared to 24% of the whole population.[2] According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2003 report Crime in the United States, Asian Americans have the lowest total arrest rates [3] despite a younger average age, and high family stability. [4] Asian Americans have achieved higher Math SAT [5], and higher IQ scores (in particular involving high visuospatial aptitude, but average to slightly below average verbal aptitude [6]) than other ethnic groups (though 50% are not native English speakers), even when more socioeconomically deprived [7] or in cases of transracial adoptions (Clark 1992, Frydman 1989), which can control for environmental and cultural differences in upbringing.
Math SAT scores of relatively poor Asian Americans compare favorably to affluent European Americans, though there is also a high number of very low scores. In the Seattle area, one study published in National Review by Arthur Hu showed that Asian Americans tended to score as well as Whites in the next better suburb. Even in the poorest districts, Asian Americans tend to score only slightly worse than whites. Studies have shown Asian Americans to be, on average, about two years ahead in math ability compared to average, which is also about the same gap observed between nations such as China and Japan compared to the United States. This is despite the fact that Asian Americans have the same school year, and often go to the same urban school systems that serve other minorities. Nationally, Asian Americans tend to get higher grades and have a higher completion rate than whites, and lower rates of discipline, along with lower rates of drug use and premarital sex, entirely inconsistent with the common wisdom that minority status necessarily results in poorer outcomes. Asian Americans still lag on verbal scores because of the predominance of recent immigrants; however, UCLA studies [citation needed] show that math SAT scores are much more indicative of success. Some new standards based tests such as WASL are much more English intensive, and Asian Americans in Seattle lag whites even in math, but not statewide.
History of discrimination
The success of Asian Americans as a group has occurred despite severe discrimination in the previous century, such as, prior to the 1950s, being stereotyped as cheap, uneducated labourers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many White Americans feared that the western part of the US would be overrun by the "Yellow Peril," prompting initiatives to reduce immigration from Asia, and during World War II, anti-Japanese paranoia led to thousands of ethnic Japanese ciitizens being held in "internment camps" in the USA. In addition, numerous Asian Americans were recent immigrants or their offspring, since immigration laws had limited Asian immigration prior to the mid 1960s. In the mid 1900s, the Yellow Peril stereotype began to give way to recognition of the racial group's socioeconomic accomplishments.
Media coverage
Media coverage of the increasing success of Asian Americans as a group began in the 1960s, reporting high average test scores and marks in school, winning national spelling bees, and high levels of university attendance. One such example is the University of California system. For instance, at the University of California, Berkeley, Asian Americans account for 41% of the undergraduate student body as of 2003, almost four times the proportion of Asian Americans in California (11%). At the University of California, Irvine, the Asian American population is 44% as of 2004. At top high schools, Asian Americans constitute even larger proportions of the student body; over half at Stuyvesant High School, which practices race-blind admissions.
Possible Causes of Model Minority status
Self-selective immigration hypothesis
One possible cause of the good performance of Asian Americans as a group is that they represent a small self-selected group of Asians because the difficulty of emigrating filtered out many of those not possessing more resources, motivation, or ability.
For example, there are only 2 million Chinese Americans in the United States, and worldwide the total number of overseas Chinese is about 34 million, whereas the total worldwide Chinese population is almost 1.3 billion. Emigration to the United States has always been strictly limited by factors such as the high cost of trans-Pacific transportation, language and cultural barriers, strong racial prejudice against Asians which did not wane until the early 1970s, historical state laws that once prohibited Chinese from working most jobs or owning land, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which limited Chinese immigration to about 100 individuals per year from 1882 through 1943. Self-selection could be continuing even today, as the current quota of about 25,000 per year is still small compared to the millions of Chinese who would like to immigrate to the United States. However, a large number of Chinese Americans are descended from laborers and the Chinese government has a policy of retaining their best students.
Moreover, American immigration law holds preference for skilled workers and those with college degrees; as such, many Asian immigrants are well-educated before coming to America and are often in a upper-middle economic bracket. Traditionally and statistically children who have higher-educated parents are more likely to attend college; therefore more emphasis is typically placed on education; this trend is noticeable among White and Black populations as well. It should be noted that income and educational attainment are negatively impacted by affirmative actions for all persons broadly identified as "Asian".
This hypothesis is supported empirically. The sociologist Stephen Klineberg conducted a 1996 study of Asian Americans in Houston, and found that the Asian American population had little upward mobility. Among the Vietnamese, 28 percent are in low-skilled production or laboring jobs as were 30 percent of their fathers." Most Vietnamese emigrated to escape political oppression or for freedom. On the other hand, most Chinese emigrated for educational opportunities, while most Indians and Filipinos emigrated for economic and work advantages. Vietnamese Americans in Houston were worse off than other Asian Americans, although they were doing better than most Blacks and Hispanics. [8]
Other hypotheses
Cultural differences
Cultural factors are thought to be part of the reason why Asian Americans are successful in the United States. East Asian societies themselves, in general, will often place more resources and emphasis on education. For example, the Chinese culture places great value on work ethic and the pursuit of knowledge. In traditional Chinese social stratification, scholars were ranked at the top — well above businessmen and landowners. This view of knowledge is evident in the modern lifestyle of many Asian American families, where parents will push their children to study and achieve high marks. Similar cultural tendencies and values are found in South and Southeast Asian families, whose children similarly face extra pressure by parents to succeed in school and to achieve high-ranked jobs.
Genetic differences
Main article: Race and intelligence
Both the self-selecting immigration explanation and the explanation that the racial group simply worked hard for its success are challenged by the observation that the average IQ scores of the East Asian population living in the US and in Asia are similar [citation needed], and both are higher than the average IQ scores of the White population living in Europe and the US, and in particular both demonstrate a similar profile of high visuospatial scores and average to slightly below average English or verbal scores. Additionally IQ scores for the African American population are lower than for the White population. Some scientists[who?] in related fields to this issue believe genetic biodiversity may play a role in the success of racial groups, though this is debated and difficult to isolate from factors such as socio-economic discrepancies, subcultural discrepancies, social discrimination, and internalization of stereotypes.
The scores obtained by various minorities on tests such as the IQ and SAT could be influenced by cultural and social differences. Also interesting to note is that whites who take natural sciences tests against Asian Americans often score lower regardless of academic history; similarly, a Black person often scores lower than a white person regardless of academic history. It has been argued that this is a clear indicator of the internalization of stereotypes and is called stereotype threat theory.
Notions of genetic differences between races do not explain the exceptional performance of Black African immigrants in the UK and in the US.
Effects of the stereotype
According to Gordon H. Chang: The reference to Asian Americans as model minorities has to do with the work ethic, respect for elders, and high valuation of family and elders present in their culture. Despite the fact that this concept seems to valorize Asian Americans, it comes with an underlying notion of their apoliticality. Moreover, such a label one-dimensionalizes Asian Americans as having those traits and no other human qualities, such as vocal leadership, negative emotions, or intolerance towards oppression. Asian Americans are labeled as model minorities because they have not been as much of a "threat" to the U.S. political establishment as blacks, due to a smaller population and less political advocacy. This label seeks to suppress potential political activism through euphemistic compliments. (Reference: Asian Americans and Politics: Perspective, Experiences, Prospects by Gordon H. Chang.)
Effects of Model Minority stereotyping
Asian Americans being an economically successful racial group in the US can create a stereotype as a side effect. Asian Americans may also be commonly stereotyped by the general public as being overly studious, materialistic, and passive. In some cases this may have the effect of those with learning disabilities being given less attention than they need. As well, the connotations of being a model minority mean that in school, Asian students are often labeled with the unpopular "nerd" image. Many Asian Americans resent the label of model minority and see it as another attempt to stereotype a minority group.
Asian Americans as a group have a very low crime rate, but a side effect of their success may be a downplaying of the presence of Asian criminal behavior and gangs in several cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver as well as in the state of Hawaii. Occasionally however, news of Asian American criminals receives widespread media coverage, such as the infamous Han Twins Murder Conspiracy in 1996 and just recently in 2005, honor roll student Esmie Tseng murdered her own mother.
The labelling of Asian Americans as the model minority, rather than as a model minority, has led to tensions between them and other minority groups, as well as discrimination in education in curriculum and admissions.
Model minority could be a euphemism for the definitive yuppie culture among young adult Asian Americans — particularly for those employed in typical white-collar occupations e.g. medical, law, and computer science.
Asian American status in affirmative action
Because of their high degree of success as a group, Asian Americans do not generally benefit from affirmative action policies the way other minority groups do. In fact, some schools routinely choose lower-scoring applicants from other racial groups, including European Americans, over Asian Americans, in an attempt to promote racial diversity and to maintain some proportion to the society's racial demographics.[9] One of the highest gaps is at UC Berkeley which does not practice affirmative action. The gap between Asian Americans and African Americans is about 300 SAT points.[citation needed]
A 2005 Princeton study showed Asians (not whites) bear nearly 80% of the cost of affirmative action in college admissions. Nearly four out of every five spots given to blacks and Hispanics in an affirmative-action regime would go to Asians in a purely merit-based system. 1
The average cost or benefit of college affirmative action in terms of SAT points (on 1600-point scale) is as follows: 2
- Blacks: +230
- Hispanics: +185
- Asians: −50
- Recruited Athletes: +200
- "Legacies" (children of alumni): +160
Cultural references
- The film Better Luck Tomorrow plays on the model minority stereotype by depicting a group of East Asian American teenagers who use their academic achievements to cover up criminal activities they are involved with.
- In Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold is faced with the stereotype of the intelligent, academically successful and "nerdy" Asian male. Kumar, of South Asian descent and whose father and brother are both medical doctors, denies himself the prospect of going to medical school in defiance of the "Indian doctor" stereotype despite his considerable intellect and knowledge.
- The television program Daria features an African American character named Jodie who complains of being constantly stereotyped. She is repeatedly featured in plotlines revolving around her having to assume a front of over-achievement and occassional arrogance in order to please her school members' view of her as the town's young model minority girl, even at one point referring to herself as a "Jodie Doll".
Black immigrants from Africa
Gargi Bhattacharyya , Liz Ison and Maud Blair have found that IQ differences between black and white populations in the UK and elsewhere are virtually non-existent. In fact, Blacks of African descents in the UK, on average, earn more money and obtain higher levels of education than the native white populations.[2] According to the London Daily Times “Black Africans have emerged as the most highly educated members of British society, surpassing even the Chinese as the most academically successful ethnic minority.”[3]
In the U.S. Black immigrants from Africa average the highest educational attainment of any population group in the country, including whites and Asians (See Logan & Dean, 2003).
| Areas | U.S. Population | All Immigrants | African Immigrants | Asian Americans | Europe, Russia & Canada | Latin, South America & Carribbean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not Fluent in English | 0.6% | 30.5% | 7.6% | 23.4% | 11.5% | 44.0% |
| Less Than High School | 17.1% | 39.1% | 12.1% | 21.2% | 23.5% | 57.4% |
| College Degree | 23.1% | 23.3 | 43.8% | 42.5% | 28.9% | 9.1% |
| Advanced Degree | 2.6% | 4.2 | 8.2% | 6.8% | 5.8% | 1.9% |
SOURCE: 2000 US CENSUS
Other / European American US groups
Jewish Americans are in some interpretations considered a model minority. Mormons have also been identified as exhibiting model minority characteristics.[10] Furthermore, in some US cities where European Americans do not make up the largest ethnic group such as Atlanta or Detroit, the European American population in general can somewhat be regarded as a model minority considering their vastly lower crime rates and higher personal incomes and educational attainment.
Other Countries
In the United Kingdom, the Jewish, Chinese, and Indian populations are often considered to be model minorities.
In some areas of Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne, East Asians, South Asians and Jews are considered a model minority. This is often illustrated by the representation of these groups in selective schools compared to population proportion.
Negatively viewed success
In certain countries, minority groups successful in economic and other measures have attracted the reverse sort of attention. In Indonesia, for instance, ethnic Chinese—a group which historically have achieved prominence in business and economics—have been the target of violence and measures aimed at reducing their share of the economy. In Indonesia, according to official figures the ethnic Chinese constitute only 3-4% of the population, yet according to some (controversial) studies control as much as three quarters of the wealth [11].
In Sri Lanka, the relative educational and economic success of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority versus the majority Sinhalese ultimately led to the Black July induced civil war and many restrictions to be placed on the Tamil minority.
The government of post-independence Uganda persecuted the Indian minority who were disproportionately prosperous businessmen and traders. They were expelled from the country by the government of Idi Amin in the 1970s, which also outlawed Judaism and severely persecuted the Abayudaya Jewish community (resulting in an 83% reduction in the size of that community). Many of them emigrated to Leicester, UK, to the chagrin of the local council, which placed advertisements trying to persuade them not to relocate to the city. However, they became one of Britain's most successful economic groups and 30,000 jobs in the Leicester area were created as a result of Ugandan Asian economic activities.
See also
External links
- Survey Examines Asian Mobility, Stephen Klineberg's systematic survey of Houston's Asian community
- Asian-Nation: The Model Minority Image, by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
- A Brief History of the Model Minority Stereotype, by Andrew Chin
References
- ^ Article "Re-examining the Model Minority Myth: A Look at Southeast Asian Youth"
- ^ Minority Ethnic Attainment and Participation in Education and Training: The Evidence (Bhattacharyya, Ilson, Blair, 2000)
- ^ London Daily Times (January, 23, 1994, as reported in Stringer and McKie 1997:190; Re-reported by Smedley in Lieberman 2001:p87)
- ^ Espiritu, Yen Le (1996). Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love.
- Clark, E. A., & Hanisee, J. (1982). Intellectual and adaptive performance of Asian children in adoptive American settings. Developmental Psychology, 18, 595-599.
- Frydman, M., & Lynn, R. (1989). The intelligence of Korean children adopted in Belgium. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1323-1325.
- ^ Chen, C.H., Yorgason, E. (1999). Those amazing Mormons: The media’s construction of Latter-day Saints as a model minority. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.