Racialized Assimilation of Asian Americans

Abstract

Because of the generally high socioeconomic attainments and high intermarriage rates of Asian Americans, it has been suggested that Asian American are reaching parity with whites and are assimilating to mainstream American society. However, other research shows the continued significance of race for Asian Americans regardless of their socioeconomic status and levels of acculturation. This article provides a review of recent research on socioeconomic attainment and intermarriage among Asian Americans as well as an overview of research on less studied but increasingly important indicators: residential outcomes, political participation, and mental health. We argue that Asian Americans are indeed assimilating but in ways that differ from their European predecessors. In this process, racial/ethnic boundaries between Asians and whites may be solidified rather than dissolved, thus maintaining the significance of race for Asian Americans. We suggest that a racialized assimilation framework may best characterize the experiences of contemporary Asian Americans. 11.1

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Perceptions of Everyday Discrimination

“…Contrary to this expectation, we may not find a distinct three-tier hierarchy in the perceptions of discrimination. Groups may be positioned in a hierarchy on multiple dimensions (Kim 1999; J. C. Lee and Kye 2016).…”

Investing the Time: Group Differences in Cultural Capital Development Among U.S. Adolescents

“…Compared with all other racial groups, Asian Americans are the least likely to report social competence activities, even as they outstrip others in the prevalence and duration of participation in technical capacity activities. This finding offers some explanation for prior studies’ findings regarding Asian Americans’ ambiguous standing in the U.S. racial order—high achieving by some measures (Kim and Sakamoto 2010), but falling short and continually racialized by others (Lee and Kye 2016). The study’s identification of racial gaps in time-use underscore observations that racial inequalities can persist independently of class inequalities (Phelan and Link 2015).…”

“…In contrast, Asian Americans’ overall socioeconomic attainment and low residential segregation levels might suggest status parity with whites (Kim and Sakamoto 2010; Pew Research Center 2017). However, a multitude of studies (reviewed by Lee and Kye 2016) have contested such assumptions, finding evidence that Asian Americans, in fact, underperform in earnings (Kim and Sakamoto 2014) and labor and dating markets (Balistreri, Joyner, and Kao 2015; Kim and Zhao 2014). Focusing on racial group differences in multiple cultural capital-building activities could shed light on Asian Americans’ almost equal, but separate, status.…”

The model minority stereotype and the national identity question: the challenges facing Asian immigrants and their children

“…Although rates of outgroup marriage are generally high for Asians as a whole, these rates are far higher for some groups, such as Filipinos, than others (Hidalgo and Bankston 2010; Lee and Kye 2016). Moreover, there is a sharp gender distinction in out-marriage, since the majority of these involve Asian women and white men (Lee and Kye, 2016). As marriage between members of different Asian groups has risen in recent years, there has arguably been a blurring of distinctions among people of different Asian national origins, rather than between Asians and the majority population (Lee and Kye, 2016).…”