success story japanese american style summary

However, Asian Americans are still considered a minority and therefore are seen as not on the same level as white Americans, who then perceive Asian Americans as an obedient, unthreatening, and economically useful minority.Īhn Siblings World War II. As a result, the “model minority” fosters stigma that separates Asian Americans from other minority groups as a “superior” minority. On the other hand, this comparison promotes the stereotype that Hispanics and African Americans are “bad” minorities, with a reputation as criminally prone, welfare recipient citizens. On the one hand, this comparison reinforces the idea that Asian Americans are “good” minorities, due to their alleged cultural propensity for discipline (Petersen), and are presumably more likely to be law-abiding, productive citizens. In addition, the “model minority” label mainly applied to Asians and Asian Americans (both South and East Asians), meaning that other minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, came to be compared to their praiseworthy “model minority” status.

The “model minority” is controversial, as it has historically been used to justify the lack of government action in alleviating socioeconomic disparities between certain demographic groups.

This image of the Asian population served as an impetus for a deceptively positive reputation of AAPIs in American society, particularly on the part of white Americans who had seen the influx of Asian immigrants in the latter half of the twentieth century as a potential threat to the preexisting status quo. His article created the stereotyping framework in which Asian Americans are accepted as economically useful members to American society. Petersen’s article of praise on Japanese Americans and AAPI communities more broadly had unintended repercussions. In this article, Petersen explains the “success story” of the Japanese Americans who, despite years of racial prejudice, discrimination, pre-WWII anti-Japanese sentiment, hate crimes, and other adversities, were still able to achieve a high socioeconomic status through hard work and cultural values that called for discipline, work ethic, and compliance to social hierarchy (Petersen).Japanese Americans, despite having faced ‘the most discrimination and the worst injustices’, have attained great success. The concept of the “model minority” was first established by sociologist William Petersen in an article, “Success Story, Japanese American Style,” published in the 1966 New York Times Magazine (Petersen). GIDRA magazine, a monthly publication that called itself the 'voice of the Asian American movement.' Founded by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) students in April 1969, the magazine took a radically progressive political position, providing information about the movement not found elsewhere in the mainstream media.

Success story japanese american style summary