Model minority
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"Model minority" refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members stereotypically achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. This success is typically in income, education, and related factors such as low crime rate and high family stability. Some critics of this terminology originated in American lexicon say that it is also used to stir jealousy and fighting amongst minorities, an example of leveraging majority power dynamics to set off jealousy between minority groups to ease the workload in thinking of ways to keep minority groups down.
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United States
History of the Model Minority Stereotype
"Model minority" was first used in the mid-1960s in the work of William Petersen, a social demographer. Petersen's work compared the success of Asian Americans to those of Jewish Americans, and described the two groups as both having been formerly marginalized but presently highly successful. Petersen contrasted "model minorities" with "problem minorities." [1]
Asian Americans
In as little as 100 years of American history, Asian Americans have gone from being the bucked-toothed, slanted-eyed, uncivilized "yellow peril" to the hardworking, musically-talented, and mathematically-brilliant "model minority." [2] Constituting approximately 4% of the population, Asian Americans are spoken of as a 'model minority' group because the group has been more successful than other minority groups. In this context, the term Asian Americans is used primarily to describe those of East Asian descent, specifically Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean Americans. It is also used by many people to include people of South Asian or Southeast Asian descent. Other groups that are geographically considered Asian, such as West Asians or people of the Malay Archipelago, though well-off in many respects, have not traditionally been thought of as model minority.
Asian American achievements
According to the United States 2000 Census, the median household income of Asian Americans is $55,521. This is higher than other racial groups only because of the larger household size typically found in Asian-American households. Per capita household income is slightly lower than that of European Americans.
As of 2000, about 44 % of Asian Americans aged 25 or above had a bachelor's or higher , as compared to 24% of the whole population.[3] According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2003 report Crime in the United States, Asian Americans have the lowest total arrest rates [4], and high family stability. [5] Asian Americans have also achieved higher Math SAT [6] scores and IQ scores (in particular involving high visuospatial aptitude, but average verbal aptitude[7]) than other ethnic groups, even when more socioeconomically deprived [8] or in cases of transracial adoptions (Clark 1992, Frydman 1989), which can control for environmental and cultural differences in upbringing.
See also race and intelligence
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, even European American, over Asian American, 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 where the gap between Asian American and African American is about 300 SAT points.
According to a 2005 Princeton University study, if affirmative action were eliminated in college admissions, nearly four out of every five spots lost by African Americans and Hispanic Americans would be given to an Asian American. Summary of Study PDF of study
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 prestigious University of California, Berkeley, Asians account for 41% of the undergraduate student body as of 2003, almost 4 times the proportion of Asian Americans in California (11%). 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.
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 U.S. citizens of European descent feared that the western part of the US would be overrun by the "Yellow Peril," prompting initiatives to reduce immigration from Asia, and during WWII, anti-Japanese paranoia lead to thousands of Japanese-Americans being held in "internment camps" in America. In addition, numerous Asian Americans were recent immigrants or their offspring, since immigration laws had limited Asian immigration prior to the mid 1960's. In the mid 1900s, the Yellow Peril stereotype began to give way to recognition of the racial group's socioeconomic accomplishments.
Effects of the stereotype
According to Godron 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 supress potential political activism through euphemistic complements. (Reference: Asian Americans and Politics: Perspective, Experiences, Prospects by Gordon H. Chang.)
Possible Reasons for "Model Minority" Status
1. Self-selective immigration
One possible influence on the good performance of Asian Americans as a group is that they represent a small self-selected elite 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 U.S., and worldwide the total amount of overseas Chinese is about 34 million, whereas the total worldwide Chinese population is almost 1.3 billion. Emigration to the US 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 emigrate to the US.
Moreover, American immigration law holds preference for skilled workers and those with college degrees; as such, many Asian American immigrants are well-educated before coming to America and are often in a higher 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.
2. 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, and both are higher than the average IQ scores of the White population living in Europe and the US. However, if the IQ test is seen as culturally, socio-economically, or racially biased, then it is quite obvious the middle-class standing of many Asian Americans and the emphasis on education that is common amongst all middle-class persons provides for this discrepancy. Moreover, the White and European average pool is much larger, and as there are a lower percentage of white Americans in the upper middle classes or with a higher education, the IQ average is pulled down for whites while the smaller and better-educated Asian American immigrant class stays relatively dominant. Additionally IQ scores for the African American population are lower than for the White population. Some scientists 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 racial target theory.
3. 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 enormous resources and emphasis on education. For example, the Chinese culture places great value on work ethic and the pursuit of knowledge. This cultural value is associated with Confucianism. In traditional Chinese social stratification, scholars were ranked at the top — well above businessmen and landowners. This Confucianistic view of knowledge is evident in the modern lifestyle of many Asian American families, where parents will push their children to study very hard 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.
Also, many Asian Americans believe greatly that work ethic and education trumps natural-born intelligence on the road to success. Many Asian Americans will say that a not-so intelligent person who works diligently in his or her studies will surpass one who is naturally gifted with high intelligence but is lazy or unwilling to work hard.
Effects of "Model Minority" stereotyping
Asian Americans being the most 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 studious, affluent, and non-violent. 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, Asians students are labelled with the unpopular "nerd" image. Many Asians 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 Hawai'i. Occasionally however, news of Asian American criminals receives widespread media coverage, such as the infamous Han Twins Murder Conspiracy in 1996.
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.
"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.
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" East 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.
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.Template:Ref 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 British 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 and Malaysia, 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 Malaysia, ethnic Chinese constitute 27% of the population yet control 40-50% of the wealth. [10]. 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 post-Atatürk Turkey, the Greek, Jewish and Armenian minorities, who had oriented to commerce during the Ottoman Empire, were persecuted with special taxes and even violence.
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).
See also
External links
- Model Minority: A Guide to Asian American Empowerment
- Asian-Nation: The Model Minority Image, by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
- Are Asian-Americans a model minority?, criticism by Steve Kangas
References
- Template:NoteEspiritu, 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.
- Template:NoteChen, 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.