Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:18:43.067Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Model Minority Thesis and Workplace Discrimination of Asian Americans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2015

Lei Lai
Lei Lai*
Affiliation:
Tulane University
*
E-mail: llai@tulane.edu, Address: A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, 7 McAlister Drive, GWI 607, New Orleans, LA 70118
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the focal article, Ruggs et al. (2013) observed that there is a dearth of racial discrimination research beyond the traditional White–Black or White–nonWhite comparisons in the industrial–organizational (I–O) literature and urged researchers to treat each minority race separately because individuals may have unique experiences with discrimination based on different racial stereotypes associated with their race/ethnicity. I agree with the above assessments. Moreover, I argue that the overlook of negative consequences of positive stereotypes of some marginalized groups, such as Asian Americans, is another “missed opportunity” that has not been addressed in the focal article. Specifically, the traditional paradigm, which tends to exclusively focus on how negative stereotypes of a marginalized group (e.g., Blacks, individuals with disabilities) lead to workplace discriminations against them, may be too narrowly focused. In this commentary, I use Asian Americans as an example to illustrate how seemingly positive stereotypes, the model minority thesis, may also lead to workplace discrimination of Asian Americans, an often overlooked minority group in the discrimination literature.

Type
Commentaries
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 93 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cheryan, S., & Monin, B. (2005). “Where are you really from?”: Asian Americans and identity denial. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 717–730.10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.717Google Scholar
Chou, R. S., & Feagin, J. R. (2010). The myth of the model minority: Asian Americans facing racism. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.Google Scholar
Cuddy, A. J. C., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2007). The BIAS map: Behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 631–648.10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.631Google Scholar
Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878–902.10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.878Google Scholar
Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Walter, J. N. (2007). Listeners' cognitive and affective reactions to English speakers with standard American English and Asian accents. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104, 307–326.10.2466/pms.104.1.307-326Google Scholar
Lai, L., & Babcock, L. (2012). Asian Americans and workplace discrimination: The interplay between sex of evaluators and the perception of social skills. Journal of Organizational Behavior. doi: 10.1002/job.1799/Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with accents: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., Cuddy, A. J. C., & Polifroni, M. (2008). When being a model minority is good…and bad: Realistic threat explains negativity toward Asian Americans. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 74–89.10.1177/0146167207309195Google Scholar
Okihiro, G. (1994). Margins and mainstreams. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Ruggs, E. N., Law, C., Cox, C. B., Roehling, M. V., Wiener, R. L., Hebl, M. R., & Barron, L. (2013). Gone fishing: I-O psychologists' missed opportunities to understand marginalized employees' experiences with discrimination. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 6, 39–60.Google Scholar
Stine, D. D., & Mathews, C. M. (2009). The U.S. science and technology workforce. Retrieved from the Federation of American Scientists website: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34539.pdf.Google Scholar
Thatchenkery, T., & Sugiyama, K. (2011). Making the invisible visible: Understanding leadership contributions of Asian minorities in the workplace. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230339347Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States: 2010. Retrieved from the U.S. Census Bureau website: http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012a). Asian/Pacific American heritage month: May 2012. Retrieved from the U.S. Census Bureau website: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/cb12ff09_asian.pdf Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012b). Historical income tables: People. Retrieved from the U.S. Census Bureau website: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/people/ Google Scholar
Woo, D. (2000). Glass ceiling and Asian Americans. Berkeley, CA: AltaMira.Google Scholar