A vast majority of Korean immigrants in the United States are affiliated with ethnic churches. Korean ethnic churches serve important social functions for Korean church members and the Korean community as a whole. This article has two major objectives. First, it provides descriptive information on the structure of Korean immigrant churches in the United States. More importantly, it systematically analyzes social functions of Korean immigrant churches. The article focuses on four major social functions: 1) providing fellowship for Korean immigrants; 2) maintaining the Korean cultural tradition; 3) providing social services for church members and the Korean community as a whole; and 4) providing social status and positions for Korean adult immigrants. Interviews with 131 Korean head pastors in New York City are the major data source for this study.
Previous studies indicate that about one‐third of Korean immigrant families in the United States are engaged in small business. This paper attempts to explain why such a large proportion of Korean immigrants turn to small business. The data are based on personal interviews with 159 randomly selected Korean businessmen in Atlanta. The data analysis shows that neither Korean immigrants' sojourning orientation nor their perception of host discimination is an important factor in their decision to start a business. It instead indicates that Korean immigrants' perception of disadvantages in nonbusiness occupations, their sense of status inconsistency, and their anticipation of economic mobility through business are three major factors which lead them to small business. The findings are theoretically important since neither the concept of status inconsistency nor that of mobility has been applied to minority small business, while sojourning and host discrimination have been emphasized as explanatory variables for minority members' entry into small business.
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