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

Abstract

One of the central issues in contemporary debates over immigration concerns national identity, that is, how immigrants from diverse origins integrate into their host society and become American. The children of Asian immigrants in the United States often give the impression of fitting neatly into American society and therefore into the American nation as a model minority. We argue, however, that such perception is a misleading overgeneralization and can bring about simplistic interpretations. The apparently successful integration of Asian Americans is not due to intrinsic cultural characteristics, but to the positive modes of incorporation juxtaposing unique patterns of selective acculturation. Moreover, the model minority image renders the continued distinctiveness and diversity of the Asian American population invisible and often has unanticipated consequences for individual group members. The seemingly positive outcomes result in new stereotypes, which serve as mechanisms of social exclusion for even the highly integrated immigrant groups and create new complications for understanding the national identity question.

“I Just Couldn’t Relate to That Asian American Narrative”: How Southeast Asian Americans Reconsider Panethnicity

“…SEAAs are likelier to live in low-income neighborhoods of color where they are more impacted by poverty and policing than East Asian Americans (Ong 2003; Tang 2013). Cambodians, Lao, Hmong, and Montagnards have lower levels of educational attainment compared with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans (Zhou and Bankston 2020). Recognizing their unique situations, SEAAs have attempted to create identities apart from Asian American panethnicity (Chhuon and Hudley 2011; J.…”

Well‐being of migrants and immigrants: Perspectives in Asia and from Asians in North America

“…Asian immigrants or migrants in Asia are just one side of the entire narrative of Asian migrants; another side of the story is about how it goes when Asians migrate to regions other than within Asia, in particular to North America, where most of the cross‐continent immigrants stay. Asian immigrants have been labeled as a “model” minority in North America due to their success in education and the labor market (Cheng, 1997; Zhou & Bankston, 2020). While it sounds complimentary, this label has become a double‐edged sword for Asian immigrants.…”

Divergent experiences and patterns of integration: contemporary Chinese immigrants in metropolitan Los Angeles, USA

“…Under certain conditions, ethnic communities can develop structures of support to facilitate rather than to hinder assimilation (Zhou 2009). In sum, segmented assimilation concerns how immigrants ' premigration socioeconomic characteristics and contexts of reception interact to produce divergent outcomes of integration (Zhou and Bankston 2019).…”