|
| |
ASIAN-AMER. STEREOTYPES.
Term Paper ID:25159
|
|
|
Essay Subject:
Examines biases related to war, economics, immigration policy, media portrayal, culture, scapegoating.... More...
|
9 Pages / 2025 Words
4 sources, 8 Citations,
APA Format
$36.00
Return to List of Papers
|
Paper Abstract:
Examines biases related to war, economics, immigration policy, media portrayal, culture, scapegoating.
Paper Introduction:
INTRODUCTION
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Only the Native Americans are indigenous to this continent, and at some point in their history they may also have come to this region from Asia across the Bering Strait or by some other means. In this century, consecutive waves of immigration from different parts of the world created tensions with Americans already living in this country, for they believed that the immigrants were taking their jobs, gorging the welfare roles, and somehow reducing their overall standard of living. One of the consequences of these tensions is the creation of certain stereotypes identified with the new immigrant group, stereotypes that may continue in some degree even after the ethnic group achieves a more accepted role in society. Asian-Americans are
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Their members become brilliant engineers, capable physicians, instinctive entrepreneurs. In the process, Korean owners helprevitalize dying areas of the city and provide work for other immigrants.This has not been accomplished without friction, however, and when Koreansopened stores in south central Los Angeles, they had confrontations withthe black population living there: The clash of cultures, and the language barrier, caused the Blacks to complain about their treatment as customers and the Koreans about their treatment as merchants. The Korean presence wasnoted clearly during the L.A. Worsnop, R.L. These images began with the firstwave of immigrants from Asia and continue in some degree to this day. Oneof the strongest ethical perspectives in a democratic society, andespecially in the American democratic society, is that all men are createdequal. For instance, the economic success of Asian immigrants often inspires admiration, but that sometimes curdles into envy (Worsnop, 1991, 947).There are a number of perspectives which shape the stereotypes we use andwhich make use of the stereotypes that exist or that draw power from thosestereotypes in making decisions, determining attitudes, and deciding whatwe think about different groups. These include the personal perspective,historical perspective, technical perspective, ethical perspective,cultural perspective, and critical perspective. In terms ofthe Asian community in particular, this sense of territoriality can be seenin many large American cities where there will be a Japanese community, aChinatown, and a Korean section where the different groups congregate,separate from the larger society to a degree and separate from one anotheras well. Much of this populationmay be invisible to the majority society, which often fails to make anydistinction among the different Asian groups. It also derives froma concern on the part of some that Asian immigrants are taking overbusiness and jobs (Worsnop, 1991, 947-948). THE TECHNICAL PERSPECTIVE Media presentations of Asians in this century have been seen by manyas demeaning, but in truth, the presentation of Asians has tended to placethat community in obscurity more than to demean it. This suggests that one ofthe reasons for stereotypical thinking is to generate anger at a givenenemy in order to support a war effort, and the anger then continues afterthe war. Blacks may be more cohesive as a group and may find themselvesall in the same racial neighborhood, but this is more a function ofinstitutional racism in the American context than because of a desire onthe part of different ethnic black groups to join together. This issue will be considered from several different perspectivesbased on readings on the subject and a consideration of how the Asian-American experience compares with that of other ethic and racial groups inthe United States. They then restore thedilapidated buildings, and once the businesses are established on thesesites, the owners include sub-businesses like lotto tickets and checkcashing to turn a larger profit. How to get a green card. This can mean a trade war as much as a shooting war. Such attitudes surfaced in resentment by blacksand Hispanics against Koreans in the riot in Los Angeles in 1992 after thefirst Rodney King verdict. Only the NativeAmericans are indigenous to this continent, and at some point in theirhistory they may also have come to this region from Asia across the BeringStrait or by some other means. Such actions toward Asians extend back to the middle of thenineteenth century when Chinese laborers first came to the United States inlarge numbers, and the fear then was of being overwhelmed by the "yellowperil." Such racist feelings continue and have been fueled by memories ofWorld War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. For instance, all black peopleare not of the same ethnic group, though white Americans may categorizethem as if they were when race is the issue rather than ethnicity. Stereotypical thinking,however, shows the uneven application of this categorical imperative. Identifying a group that is different form ourselves involvescreating shortcuts in our thinking so we do not have to admit our ignorance(as of cultural differences) or that our own thinking may not be the onlyway of looking at things. This law remained in effect until 1943 (Lewis, 1993, 1/4).In 1917, an Immigration Act was passed to restrict the entry of immigrants,especially illiterate laborers from central and eastern Europe, and thismarked the beginning of a great change in American immigration policy.After World War I, America faced hard times so that the immigrant becamethe scapegoat for hard times. The great success of the Japanese in developing their economicsystem has created envy around the world, and in the last two decades therehave been several occasions on which concerns were raised about theJapanese taking unfair advantage through trade policies. Theobject of the law was also to favor certain kinds of immigrants and to keepout others. These entrepreneurs are very adaptableand take such non-Korean enterprises as failing donut shops and Jewishdelicatessens and turn them around. Each of these sub-racial groups shows thegeneral characteristics of an ethnic groups--unique cultural traits, asense of community, ethnocentrism, territoriality, and so on. The primary ethnic groups included under the Asian labelinclude Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong,Laotian, and Thai people. Suchthinking has a practical consequence during the war, maintaining supportfor the war effort. (1994, May 3 ). In a society such as that of the UnitedStates, of course, many different ethnic groups are attracted from othernationalities, and within American society they may be more unified byethnic similarities than by racial ones. Thelaw thus reduced the total number of immigrants each year to 15 , . "Asian Americans." CQResearcher, 947-961.----------------------- 12 Similarly, we may blame a given group for our owntroubles and so identify that group in a certain way to show our economictroubles are not our own, our role in trade has been unfairly impacted, andso on. Stereotypes and discrimination belie this--Asians are not seen asequal in some way. What is unfair is that theseactions are then used to shape how we view people who may be of the sameethnic background but who had nothing to do with the issues involved. citizens, because they were different in color, in culture, in habits and in looks, these new workers were targeted by Americans for antagonism and racial hatred. These restrictions would be relaxed after World War II(Lewis, 1993, 1/4-1/5). Similarly, Asians are nota homogenous ethnic group, and the differences between the Japanese and theKorean communities is nearly as great as between any one of them and thewhite society of America. More important, though, may be economic shifts inthe world. riots of 1992 as Korean merchants organizedto protect their stores. More immigrants were permitted from western Europe and fewerfrom southern and eastern Europe, and Asians were totally excluded,primarily to prohibit Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos from acquiring U.S.citizenship. Blacksfrom Jamaica have a very different ethnic background than blacks fromNigeria. (1993). As a result, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882, completely banning non-citizen Chinese from immigrating to the United States. TheKorean contingent in Los Angeles has been successful in creating its ownstrong community, making use of an entrepreneurial spirit to make headwayin a number of businesses, notably various retail establishments such asconvenience stores but also in a number of other business enterprises.Koreans often buy businesses in run-down areas. Members ofCongress from time to time have used Japan as a stalking horse for U.S.economic problems, though more recently the tide has shifted to the U.S. In order to develop and apply certain stereotypes,though, the American must go against certain other ethical controls. In this century, consecutive waves ofimmigration from different parts of the world created tensions withAmericans already living in this country, for they believed that theimmigrants were taking their jobs, gorging the welfare roles, and somehowreducing their overall standard of living. Beverly Hills: Hillcrest Press. INTRODUCTION The United States is a nation of immigrants. The system was madepermanent with the National Origins Act of 1924, now based on the ethniccomposition of the United States as reflected in the 192 census, withentry limited to 2 percent of the number of people living in the U.S. This shows that there are overlapping ethnic groups identifiablewithin larger groups, such as blacks with specific cultural backgroundswithin the larger racial category of all blacks. THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The Gold Rush in California after 1849 attracted people from all overAmerica and from China, with many Chinese workers coming before the CivilWar to provide cheap labor for the building of the railroads: By 1882, there were approximately 3 , low-wage Chinese laborers in America. "Immigrants: The stereotype is acceptedalmost without question: Asian." Time, 31. Asians areseen even more rarely, and they have tended to be presented in films, ontelevision, and in other media in specific ways that come to be identifiedas representative. Asian-Americans are labeled with a number of stereotypical ideas and images, fromthe old idea of the "yellow peril" endangering the American way of life tothe new image of the mathematical and scientific scholar taking universitypositions away from white Americans. The tensions evident between Koreans and blacksin Los Angeles are not specific to Los Angeles, for several months beforethis problems erupted between the two populations in New York as well. The Asian population in America is diverse. THE ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE The ethical perspective provides a way of analyzing ways in which thedevelopment and maintenance of stereotypes fails to meet certain ethicalstandards and the way media representations shape stereotypes without usingan ethical perspective as a filter. Asians have been subject to these image-shaping forces to a greatextent in recent years. Moreover, they rarely depend on public welfare because of the strength of their Confucian ethic (Rudolph, 1994, 31).However, as a report by the Asian American Studies Center, part of theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, now shows, there is a startling gapbetween rich and poor members of the Asian-American community. Ethnic L.A. After the war, its basic unfairness should be evidentbut often is not. The separationinto cultural regions creates and maintains divisions which contribute tothe use of stereotypes to identify those in other groups. (1991, December 31). Worsnop (1991) points out that while Asian Americanshave become a respected and influential force in American society, they arestill subject to discrimination based on stereotypes: As Asian Americans have learned over many years, the attitudes that their fellow Americans harbor about them are subject to abrupt and unsettling change. The current situation, though, is one in which Asians are stereotypedmore as high achievers in school and business, while foreign enemies areusually seen as Middle Eastern more than Asian. Utilitarianism, forinstance, might be used to justify stereotypes about Asians as a way ofpromoting the greatest good for the greatest number, meaning in this casethe majority white population. Robberies, violence and alleged murders were the result, but both sides have been working at resolving the conflicts (Pearlstone, 199 , 89). THE PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE The personal perspective is subjective. The Korean population in Los Angeles has beengrowing for some years, with a large Korean population found in areas eastof Los Angeles such as Montebello and with a Korean residential andbusiness district west of downtown Los Angeles. TheVietnam War is the most recent in which the United States fought against alarge Asian population, and bitterness over that war continues to beimportant for many people and for creating an aura which still colors howwe think about Asians. Rudolph, B. One of the consequences ofthese tensions is the creation of certain stereotypes identified with thenew immigrant group, stereotypes that may continue in some degree evenafter the ethnic group achieves a more accepted role in society. The old image was of the Chinese laundryman, thoughthat was hardly the only business in which the Chinese engaged. Certainly, some of the resentment directedat Asians is because the majority population is jealous about theadvantages and benefits seen as going to this smaller population, eventhough that smaller population may have earned the differential throughability and hard work. This is generally aproblem for non-majority groups in American society--they are simplyignored, or mentioned only from time to time in specific situations withwhich they then become identified. Indeed,fully 3 percent of all Southeast Asian families in America are on welfare,which is the highest percentage of any ethnic group (Rudolph, 1994, 31). At the same time, some stereotypes arderived from these ethical perspectives themselves. TheJapanese are seen as particularly adept at mathematics and electronicsbecause of their success in the computer market, though they as well areengaged in many more businesses than this. even as memories of various wars fade, newmemories are created regarding Japanese trade policies, Korean troubles,Chinese human rights violations, and so on. THE CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE Even benign or "complimentary" stereotypes may be harmful as well asfalse, and one of the prevailing stereotypes about Asian Americans showsthis: The stereotype is accepted almost without question: Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S., are an industrious, highly educated and successful immigrant community. References Lewis, L.N. A tight national-origins policy wasinstituted in 1921 as a temporary measure, and total immigration waslimited to about 35 , per year, with immigration from each country in agiven year limited to 3 percent of all nationals from the country who wereliving in the United States during the 191 census. THE CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Many stereotypes exist between non-majority ethnic groups eachthemselves subject to the same kind of misdirected image-making on the partof the majority society. isdoing better than much of East Asia. Asians and PacificIslanders constitute 2.9 percent of the 199 census, up from 1.5 percent adecade before. Asian Americans have been achieving a highervisibility in American life in recent years, and this has unfortunatelyalso brought about an increase in discrimination and hate crimes directedat them, showing the power of certain stereotypes and the tensions that mayevoke them. Some of our stereotypical thinking derives frommore understandable, if equally wrong-headed, factors, such as continuingto hold anger toward a people against whom we were once at war. (199 ). Pearlstone, Z. It is simply easier to continuewith these representations in the media than it is to create a morebalanced view of the community, and so the stereotype os constantlyreinforced. Blacks and Hispanics complain that theyare seen on television almost entirely as street criminals and gangmembers, and so this becomes the stereotype for the community. The idea that all men are created equal is thecategorical imperative of American society, the rule that, once created,should always be applied in a consistent manner. Berkeley: Nolo Press. The concepts of race and ethnicity overlap in that certain culturalgroups may be largely of one race. Because they were taking jobs from U.S. If one considers how AsianAmericans are viewed, a number of concepts come to mind to explain it.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
Click here to request an essay written just for you.
|
|
|
