Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth

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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth

• By Stacey J. Lee

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Objectives

• Understand what the Model Minority Myth refers
  to.
• Define hegemony and ethnographic research, the
  Pygmalion effect
• Understand The Cultural Explanation, Relative
  Functionalism, Cultural Ecologists
• Better understand Lees analysis and her
  explanation of Academic Achievement Among Asian
  Americans

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• Discussion Question
• Are good stereotypes good?
• Are good stereotypes bad?

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Relative to stereotypes of other racial
minorities, the model minority stereotype appears
to be positive and flattering. Indeed, what could
be wrong with being described as smart and
hardworking? . . . Despite the privileges that I
may at times enjoy from being cast as a model
minority, history tells us that the label is
dangerous. . . . Stacey Lee (1996),
Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype
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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth What is
ethnographic research? Lee conducted
semistructured interviews with 47 of the 356
Asian American students, a number of teachers,
and several of the school's Black students. The
book centers on the experiences of students from
four Asian American identity groups
Korean-identified students Asian-identified
students Asian American identified students and
"New Wavers," a group Lee describes as
personifying a culture of resistance to extant
racial/ethnic identities. Accordingly, she
notes that these four groups are categorized
based on the students' levels of racial identity
and pride, levels of acculturation, cultural
orientations (values, beliefs, behaviors), and
attitudes toward school and achievement.
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• Diversity of Asian American
• Asian American are very diverse
• - Countries of origin Ethnicities
• - Languages/dialects
• - Immigration History
• - Length/Generation of being in the United
• - Socioeconomic status
• - Religious
• Acculturation

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Origins of Asian American -- 51 of Asian
American are immigrants --The six largest groups,
account for 89 of Asian American Chinese (2.7
million), Filipinos (2.4 million), Asian
Indian (1.9 million) Korean (1.23 million)
Vietnamese (1.22 million) Japanese (1.15million)
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Immigrant History ? 1880s Chinese from Mainland
China as railroad workers and ended by Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882 till civil right movement
in 1950s. Then, most immigrants were from Taiwan
till 1970s. ? Japanese immigrant to US to
replace Chinese immigrants after 1882. Till1924
immigration act banned Japanese immigrant. 1942
the Executive Order 9066 sent Japanese to
concentration camp after Japanese attacked
Honolulu.
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the Pygmalion effect
The Pygmalion effect, Rosenthal effect, or more
commonly known as the "teacher-expectancy effect"
refers to situations in which students perform
better than other students simply because they
are expected to do so. The Pygmalion effect
requires a student to internalize the
expectations of their superiors. It is a kind of
self-fulfilling prophecy, and in this respect,
students with poor expectations internalize their
negative label, and those with positive labels
succeed accordingly. Within sociology, the effect
is often cited with regards to education and
social class.
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Hegemony
The processes by which a dominant culture
maintains its dominant position for example, the
use of institutions to formalize power the
employment of a bureaucracy to make power seem
abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any one
individual) the inculcation of the populace in
the ideals of the hegomonic group through
education, advertising, publication, etc. the
mobilization of a police force as well as
military personnel to subdue opposition.
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• Discussion Question
• What is the Model Minority a myth?

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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth

• Countering Ogbu, Lee contends that his analysis
  (a) fails to explain why Asians do not perform as
  well in their respective countries of origin as
  they do in the United States (b) fails to
  explain poor achievement among Asian Americans
  and (c) treats voluntary minorities as a
  homogeneous group, thereby ignoring within-group
  differences among various Asians (e.g., Chinese,
  Japanese, Korean, etc.).

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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth

• What is wrong with mainstream societys
  characterization of Asian Americans as the model
  minoritysmart, achievement-oriented,
  hardworking, respectful?
• Why should some Asian Americans object to the
  model minority stereotype? Why should some
  consider it dangerous?
• Does the model minority offer any potentially
  good outcomes?
• Is there any substance to the allegation by some
  Asian Americans that the model minority
  stereotype is a clever hegemonic ploy by the
  dominant mainstream society to create invidious
  comparisons between and among ethnic and racial
  minorities?

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• Discussion Question
• What are the positives of the Model Minority
  stereotype? Negatives?

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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth

• the first problem, --the stereotype homogenizes
  the Asian American population, masking the
  diversity within Asian American communities due
  to social class, religion, language, ethnicity,
  migratory status, length of residence, and
  education.

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Academic Achievement Among Asian Americans"

• Chapter 3
• The Cultural Explanation
• Relative Functionalism
• Cultural Ecologists
• ---identities
• ---perceptions of opportunities
• ---perceptions of school
• ---perceptions of achievement
• African Immigrants

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Academic Achievement Among Asian Americans"

• Academic Achievement
• Korean-Identified Students
• Asian-Identified Students
• Profiles of High Achievers
• Profiles of Low Achievers

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• Discussion Question
• Why should (or shouldnt) Asian Americans and/or
  teachers fight the Model Minority stereotype?

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Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype
Listening to Asian American Youth

• Lee concludes
• The model minority stereotype is dangerous
  because it tells Asian Americans and other
  minorities how to behave. The stereotype is
  dangerous because it is used against other
  minority groups to silence claims of inequality.
  It is dangerous because it silences the
  experiences of Asian Americans who can/do not
  achieve model minority success. And finally, the
  stereotype is dangerous because some Asian
  Americans may use the stereotype to judge their
  self-worth. . . (p. 125)

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• Objectives
• Understand what the Model Minority Myth refers
  to.
• Define hegemony and ethnographic research, the
  Pygmalion effect
• Understand The Cultural Explanation, Relative
  Functionalism, Cultural Ecologists
• Better understand Lees analysis and her
  explanation of Academic Achievement Among Asian
  Americans