Are Asains Becoming White Essay

1) Asian Americans have been stereotyped under the image of being a model minority from the mid-1960s to our present day (Macionis 2010:278). Being a model minority means â€Å"overcoming extreme hardships and discrimination to achieve success (Macionis 2010:278). † Success â€Å"economically, socially, and educationally†¦without resorting to confrontation with Whites (Schaefer 2009: 252). † Asian Americans have done this and the public has â€Å"attributed their winning wealth and respect in American society to hard work, family solidarity, discipline, delayed gratification, non-confrontation, and eschewing welfare (Macionis 2010:278). † Being labeled a model minority might appear to bring only prestige but in fact it brings consequences as well. One such consequence is that being a â€Å"model-minority holds Asian Americans to higher standards (Macionis 2010:279). † Situations that may be accepted for some aren’t accepted from them. They are â€Å"judged by standards different from average Americans (Macionis 2010:279). † Also because of the expectations placed upon them they are channeled to â€Å"specific avenues of success, such as science and engineering (Macionis 2010:279). † This leads up to another consequence of parents â€Å"often discouraging their children from entering fields they regard as unlikely to offer financial security, such as the arts (Schaefer 2009:252). † A child may have a gift as an astounding writer, yet the parents will still discourage it due to worries about job outlook and income in the future (Macionis 2010:279). Another consequence the label causes is that it â€Å"reinforces the myth that the United States is devoid of racism and accords equal opportunity to all (Macionis 2010:279). † This implies that â€Å"those minorities that do not succeed are somehow responsible for their failure†¦this attitude is yet another instance of blaming the victims (Schaefer 2009:252). † Although, not all bad, an advantage of the stereotype is that Asian Americans are more likely to attain a high-paying job. It is common to see â€Å"Asian Americans are concentrated near the top in professional and managerial positions†¦(Schaefer 2009:251). † Simply due to what they are known for Asian Americans are allowed more opportunity and they prove themselves over and over again; with the highest median household income of all racial groups, and the lowest poverty rate of all racial groups (Macionis 2010:278). 2) Min Zhou asks the question, â€Å"Are Asian Americans becoming white? † First off, what does it mean to be White? â€Å"White is an arbitrary label having more to do with privilege than biology (Macionis 2010:276). † Being white means different things to different people. To some becoming white â€Å"can mean distancing oneself from â€Å"people of color† or disowning one’s ethnicity (Macionis 2010:276). † To others becoming white is something to strive for because it means attaining a privileged status (Macionis 2010:280). The most common view accepted by Asian Americans is â€Å"that â€Å"white† is mainstream, average, and normal, and they look to whites as a frame of reference for attaining higher social positions (Macionis 2010:279). † Asian Americans are becoming white as I see it. They are gaining prestige, they working hard and they strive for something greater. Especially since being white is commonly associated with being an American (Macionis 2010:280). â€Å"Asian immigrants tend to believe in the American Dream and measure their achievements materially (Macionis 2010:279). † They share common interests with most Americans such as, â€Å"to own a home, to be my own boss, and to send my children to the Ivy League (Macionis 2010:279)†, as one Chinese immigrant stated. Of course, being an American is more than just these items, but it is a generalized American mentality that shows common ground. If Asian Americans choose to marry a partner of a different racial background, 87 percent of those marry whites (Macionis 2010:280). There are thoughts that some Asian Americans hold, such as, â€Å"You can certainly be as good as or even better than whites, but you will never become accepted as white (Macionis 2010:280). † I believe this to be incorrect. â€Å"According to a new Purdue University study, more than 94 percent would say that having United States citizenship makes someone â€Å"truly American. † http://phys. org/news64938913. html: 3)† If we were to relate being white to being American, most Asian Americans are already there. With the mentality, dedication and perseverance that Asian Americans display, I would say, Yes, Asian Americans are becoming white. 3) The Jews and Asian Americans had two different experiences that could be seen to relate in certain aspects despite the large difference in events. The Jews were intelligent and successful though looked down upon in the United States and they were seen as â€Å"members of an inferior race (Macionis 2010: 266). † It wasn’t until after World War II those things drastically changed. â€Å"Before the war, most Jews, like most other Americans, were working class. Already upwardly mobile before the war relative to other immigrants, Jews floated high on this rising economic tide, and most of them entered the middle class (Macionis 2010:272). † Like Asian Americans, Jews were always ahead of the other races. They were given difficult roads to face and large obstacles to climb, yet they achieved success, following the definition of the model minority. Similarly they struggled with the dilemma of being considered white. Before the war, â€Å"Columbia University took steps to decrease the number of entering Jews by a set of practices†¦(Macionis 2010:269). † It wasn’t until the war that there were â€Å"changes set in motion during the war against fascism that led to a more inclusive version of whiteness (Macionis 2010:270). † Though the struggle was different, it was still there for both groups. The Jews compared to Asian Americans benefited most from government programs that spurred upward mobility because after the war the government was in need of a rise in the economy and they created great programs to assist in that matter (Macionis 2010:270). The â€Å"Jews’ and other white ethnics’ upward mobility was the result of programs that allowed us to float on a rising economic tide (Macionis 2010:273). † Asian Americans on the other hand, upward mobility wasn’t based off of programs as much, as their heritage and culture. Instead, â€Å"In spite of these obstacles, Asian Americans students soldier on with strong support from their parents (Schaefer 2009:252). † As for comparison with African Americans and Asian Americans they are in two completely different categories. Both are minority groups, though they are on opposite sides of the court. Asian Americans have higher income rates than Whites, African Americans on the other hand, have their â€Å"household income of Blacks is still 60 percent that of Whites, and the unemployment rate among Blacks is more than twice that of Whites (Schaefer 2009:250). † Still to this day Blacks â€Å"remain significantly underrepresented, despite Senator Barack Obama†¦(Schaefer 2009:520). † Asian Americans are well represented due to being the model minority. Asian Americans are a very diverse group of people. â€Å"Their diverse origins include drastic differences in languages and dialects, religions, cuisines, and customs (Macionis 2010:278). † Because of this â€Å"all of these differences create obstacles to fostering a cohesive pan-Asian solidarity (Macionis 2010:278). †