Model minority
The term model minority refers to a minority group, defined by factors such as ethnicity, race, or religion, whose members are perceived to be achieving a higher socioeconomic status in comparison to other minority groups or the population at large. The term is also referred to as the model minority myth because it is understood as a racialized social construct that frames certain minority groups as comparatively successful, culturally adaptable, and morally disciplined while promoting stereotypes that are ultimately harmful.
Model minorities are often regarded as a role model or reference group for comparison to other groups. Their perceived success is typically assessed through metrics including educational attainment, representation within managerial and professional occupations, household income, and various other socioeconomic indicators such as criminal activity and strong family and marital stability. Asian Americans in the United States are prominently associated with this concept. Analogous concepts of classism have been observed in numerous European countries, leading to the stereotyping of specific ethnic groups. Socioeconomically successful minority groups often share notable parallels, suggesting that their patterns of achievement are closely shaped by distinct historical experiences and sociocultural contexts.
The concept of the model minority has generated controversy due to its historical application to suggest that economic intervention by governments is unnecessary to address socioeconomic disparities among particular racial groups. The model minority concept has been traced back to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States during the late-1950s to 1960s as an antithesis to African American claims of racial discrimination, oppression, and systemic barriers that impeded upward social mobility. The concept was employed to draw contrasts between Asian Americans and Jewish Americans in comparison to African Americans and Indigenous peoples. Consequently, this perpetuates the propagation of a 'model minority myth', asserting that Asian and Jewish Americans are exemplary law-abiding and productive citizens or immigrants, while concurrently reinforcing the stereotype that Indigenous and African American communities are predisposed to criminal behavior and dependent on welfare. With the turn of the 21st century, the model minority myth has been widely criticized as oversimplistic and misleading, operating as a form of racial bordering—used to justify discriminatory policies, systemic barriers, and neglect marginalized communities.
Issues
The concept of a model minority is heavily associated with U.S. culture, due to the term's origins in American sociologist William Petersen's 1966 article. Many European countries have concepts of classism that stereotype ethnic groups in a manner which is similar to the stereotype of the model minority. Generalized statistics, such as higher education attainment rate, high representation in white-collar professional and managerial occupations, and a higher household income than other racial groups in the United States are often cited in support of model-minority status.A common misconception is that the affected communities typically take pride in being labeled as a model minority. However, the model minority stereotype is considered detrimental to relevant minority communities because it is used to justify the exclusion of such groups in the distribution of assistance programs, and it is also used to understate or slight the achievements of individuals within that minority.
There are a wide variety of theories categorizing types of prejudices, and different types of prejudices are believed to be more at play towards different particular groups, one such model being the stereotype content model. Generally speaking, within the American and European social context, groups such as those with Asian heritage or Jewish heritage are believed to score high on perceived competence but low on perceived warmth and thus are thought to fall into the category of the 'envied outgroup' within the context of this stereotype. Additional studies have shown that when describing a group with the term 'model minority' and associated attributes, responses towards the out-group were significantly more negative than those using other positive attributes. Other scholars have discussed the potential for the stereotype to be the 'positive spin' on the money-mad, stealing and/or greedy Jew or Asian. Recent additional studies have delved into the role of jealous prejudice in instigating certain historical mass casualty events, such as the Holocaust, noting that the theory of the venting of frustrations on an innocent but weak target is a notion that is part of popular "folk psychology" and should be re-examined, arguing instead that envious prejudice plays a relevant role in scapegoating in some social contexts.
Furthermore, the notion of the model minority pits minority groups against one another through the implication that non-model groups are at fault for falling short of the model minority level of achievement. The concept has been criticized by outlets such as NPR and EU Scream for potentially homogenizing the experiences of Asian communities on one side and Hispanics and African Americans on the other, despite the fact that individual groups experience racism in different ways. Critics also argue that the idea perpetuates the belief that any minority has the capability to economically rise without assistance because it ignores the differences between the history of Asian Americans and the history of African Americans, as well as the history of Hispanics, in the United States. It has also been pointed out that the concept, which also has been criticized for over generalizing the success of some community members, has been used to invalidate and render less visible the racism faced by model minorities. Additionally, over generalizing based on a measure success for some members to make the point that racism is over and anyone stating otherwise is "making excuses" is not exclusive to those groups who have been called model minorities, and became a problem for some members of the African American community after Barack Obama's Presidential election.
United States
One of the earliest uses of the term model minority was in the 9 January 1966 edition of The New York Times Magazine by sociologist William Petersen to describe Asian Americans as ethnic minorities which, despite their marginalization, have achieved success in the United States. In his essay titled "Success Story: Japanese American Style", he wrote that the Japanese cultures have strong work ethics and family values which, consequently, lift them above so called "problem minorities", other racial groups whose lack of perceived economic and educational success proved that Japanese Americans had risen above discrimination. Petersen believed that the success of Asian Americans paralleled the success of Jewish Americans.Petersen's article framed Japanese Americans as an embodiment of success through hard work and ultimately, justified the perception of the United States as a meritocratic society in which so-called "problem minorities" could also rise above racism and discrimination to succeed. Because the 1960s Civil Rights Movement was marked by African American claims of racial oppression, many scholars argue that Petersen's article served to present economic and educational success amongst Japanese Americans as an antithesis to such claims of racial oppression. A similar article about Chinese Americans was published in U.S. News & World Report in December 1966. In addition to Chinese Americans, the model minority term was later applied to Asian Americans groups like Korean, and Indian Americans, who were also seen as highly educated and successful.
Asian Americans
Although the term was first coined to describe the socioeconomic success of Japanese Americans, "model minority" eventually evolved to become associated with American Jews and Asian Americans in general, more specifically with East Asians as well as Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans. By the 1980s, almost all major U.S. magazines and newspapers printed success stories of Asian Americans.Some scholars have described the creation of the model minority theory as a partial response to the emergence of the civil rights movement, in which African Americans fought for equal rights and the discontinuation of racial segregation in the United States. In reaction to the success of the movement, white America, citing the accomplishments of Asian Americans, argued that African Americans could raise their communities up by focusing on education and accepting and conforming to the racial segregation, institutional racism and discrimination which were all being practiced at that time. At that time however, Asian Americans were also marginalized and racially segregated, which meant that they also represented lower economic levels and faced the same social issues which other racial and ethnic minorities faced.
A few years after The New York Times Magazine article about Asian Americans being the model minority was published, Asian Americans formed their own movement, in which they fought for their own equal rights and the resolution of their own specific social issues. It would be modeled after the Civil Rights Movement, thus, it would effectively challenge White America and the social construct of racial discrimination.
Those who resisted the emergent stereotype in the 1960s–1980s could not gain enough support to combat it due to its so-called "positive" connotations. At the time, this led many, even within the Asian American community, to either view it as a welcomed label in contrast to years of negative stereotypes, or view it as a euphemistic stereotype that was no more than a mere annoyance. Many believe that the stereotype comes with more positives than negatives. In contrast, many critics believe that there are just as many negatives as there are positives, or they believe that stereotypes should never be regarded as "good," no matter how "positive" they are intended to be. Scientific studies have revealed that both socially and psychologically, positive stereotypes have many negative and damaging consequences. According to Marita Etcubañez, a director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, misconceptions about Asian Americans have an effect on government policy, as "politicians won't talk about our community's needs if they assume people don't require assistance." According to Yanan Wang writing for the Washington Post, since the 1960s, "the idea that Asian Americans are distinct among minority groups and therefore immune to the challenges which are faced by other people of color is a particularly sensitive issue in the community, which has recently fought to reclaim its place in social justice conversations with movements like #ModelMinorityMutiny." In his paper, "Education and the Socialization of Asian Americans: A Revisionist Analysis of the 'Model Minority Thesis'", B. Suzuki, a researcher of multicultural and Asian American studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst, disagrees with how the media has portrayed Asian Americans. Explaining the sociohistorical background of the contemporary social system, Suzuki argues that the model minority stereotype is a myth.
Following the Civil Rights Era, the model minority term continued to grow in prominence and has been perpetuated by United States media, academia, and popular culture. It is often used to compare model minorities to other minority groups, such as African Americans and Latinos. The growing acceptance of the model minority myth may be partially attributed to the 1965 Immigration Act, which abolished national origin quotas and based admission on skills and profession instead. As a result, from 1965 to 1979, an influx of immigrants from Asia consisted of highly-educated professionals, like physicians and scientists. By the 1980s, many media outlets reported that Asian Americans had skyrocketing college enrollment rates, fueling praise for Asian Americans as a successful minority group due to their superior work ethic. A Fortune magazine article in 1986 by Anthony Ramirez, for example, stated, "Asian Americans are smarter than the rest of us, and they push their children to excel in school." The Fortune article, when addressing whether it is a problem that Asian Americans have problems moving up the corporate hierarchy, asserted that Asian Americans would "solve that problem themselves by being self-starters and adapting to American management culture". Another famous example of the model minority myth perpetuated through media was the 1987 Time magazine which featured a cover photo of, "Those Asian American WHIZ KIDS." Today, similar to the skilled-based immigration resulting from the 1965 Immigration Act, many Asian American immigrants who are highly educated are often selected through student visas for higher education, H1-B skill-based visas, or merit-based immigration systems that favors those with advanced degrees or specialized skills. This has led to a disproportionate concentration of highly educated and successful Asian Americans in certain professions, such as medicine, engineering, and technology, that continues to fuel the model minority myth.
Since the creation of the model minority stereotype, Asian Americans have exceeded White Americans in terms of their level of education, as well as many other racial and ethnic groups in American society., Asian Americans as a whole are considered as having obtained the highest educational attainment level and the highest median household income of any racial and ethnic demographic in the country, a position which African immigrants, and their first generation descendants, have just started to outperform them in. These statistics vary among the Asian American population. Historically, achieving economic and educational success was, and at times still is, seen as a gateway by different groups into greater social acceptance. This notion has not always been born out, as for example when Muslim Americans faced widespread hostility and prejudice in the wake of 9/11.