Beyond the Shadow of White Privilege?: The Socioeconomic Attainments of Second Generation South Asian Americans

Hyeyoung Woo, Arthur Sakamoto, Isao Takei

.

DOI: 10.4236/sm.2012.21003                

Abstract

Despite numerous studies of second generation minorities in recent years, South Asian Americans have been largely ignored. Using the most recent data available from the US Census Bureau, we investigate the socioeconomic attainments of second generation South Asian Americans. We find that their average levels of education, wages, and occupational attainment exceed those of non-Hispanic whites. Contrary to the “model minority myth” view, second generation South Asian Americans remain slightly advantaged relative to non-Hispanic whites in terms of labor market success net of age, education, and region of residence. These results are also inconsistent with discussions of white privilege that emphasize the socioeconomic disadvantages of minorities with darker skin tones. Our results suggest that theories of race relations should also incorporate South Asian Americans.

Keywords

South Asian Americans; White Privilege; Second Generation; Wages

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Becker, G. S., & Murphy, K. M. (2007). Education and consumption: The effects of education in the household compared to the marketplace. Journal of Human Capital, 1, 9-35. doi:10.1086/524715
[2]	Bonilla-Silva, E. (1997). Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62, 465-480. doi:10.2307/2657316
[3]	Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001). White supremacy and racism in the post-civil rights era. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
[4]	Bonilla-Silva, E. 2003. Racism without racists. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
[5]	Bonilla-Silva, E., & Glover, K. (2004). We are all Americans: The Latin Americanization of race relations in the USA. In M. Krysan, & A. E. Lewis (Eds.), The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity (pp. 149-186). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
[6]	Bratsberg, B., & Ragan, J. F. Jr. (2002). The impact of host-country schooling on earnings: A study of male immigrants in the United States. Journal of Human Resources, 37, 63-105. doi:10.2307/3069604
[7]	Card, D., & DiNardo, J. E. (2002). Skill biased technological change and rising wage inequality: Some problems and puzzles. Journal of Labor Economics, 20, 733-783. doi:10.1086/342055
[8]	Card, D., & DiNardo, J. E. (2006). Work and poverty during the past quarter-century. In R. M. Blank, S. H. Danziger, & R. F. Schoeni (Eds.), Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes Are Affecting Low-Wage Workers (pp. 1-20). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
[9]	Collins, R. (1989). Sociology: Pro-science or anti-science? American Sociological Review, 53, 124-139. doi:10.2307/2095666
[10]	Dingra, P. (2003). Being American between Black and White: Second generation Asian American professionals’ racial identities. Journal of Asian American Studies, 6, 117-147.
[11]	Duleep, H. O., & Regets, M. C. (1997). Measuring immigrant wage growth using matched CPS files. Demography, 34, 239-249. doi:10.2307/2061702
[12]	Duleep, H. O., & Sanders, S. (1992). Discrimination at the top: American-born Asian and White men. Industrial Relations, 31, 416-432. doi:10.1111/j.1468-232X.1992.tb00318.x
[13]	Farley, R., & Alba, R. (2002). The new second generation in the United States. International Migration Review, 36, 669-701. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7379.2002.tb00100.x
[14]	Feagin, J. R. (2001). Racist America. London: Routledge.
[15]	Feagin, J. R., & Vera, H. (2005). White racism: The basics. London: Routledge.
[16]	Goyette, K. A., & Xie, Y. (1999). Educational expectations of Asian American youths: Determinants and ethnic differences. Sociology of Education, 72, 22-36. doi:10.2307/2673184
[17]	Hirschman, C., & Snipp, C. M. (2001). The state of the American dream: Race and ethnic socioeconomic inequality in the United States, 1970-1990. In D. B. Grusky (Ed.), Social Stratification (pp. 623-642). Boulder: Westview.
[18]	Hirschman, C., & Wong, M. G. (1984). Socioeconomic gains of Asian Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics: 1960-1976. American Journal of Sociology, 90, 584-607. doi:10.1086/228118
[19]	Hurh, W. M., & Kim, K. C. (1989). The “success” image of Asian Americans: Its validity, and its practical and theoretical implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 12, 512-536. doi:10.1080/01419870.1989.9993650
[20]	Jensen, J. M. (1988). Passage from India. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
[21]	Kao, G., & Tienda, M. (1995). Optimism and achievement: The educational performance of immigrant youth. Social Science Quarterly, 76, 1-19.
[22]	Kibria, N. (2006). South Asian Americans. In P. G. Min (Ed.), Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues (pp. 206-227). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
[23]	Kim, C., & Sakamoto, A. (2008). The rise of intra-occupational wage inequality in the United States, 1983 to 2002. American Sociological Review, 73, 129-157. doi:10.1177/000312240807300107
[24]	Kim, C., & Sakamoto, A. (2010). Has a racial minority obtained labor market parity with Whites? Demographic heterogeneity, over-education, and the earnings of Asian American men. (unpublished manuscript)
[25]	Kitano, H. L., & Daniels, R. (2000). Asian Americans: Emerging minorities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[26]	Lemieux, T. (2006). Postsecondary education and increasing wage inequality. American Economic Review, 96, 195-199. doi:10.1257/000282806777211667
[27]	McCall, L. (2001). Sources of racial wage inequality in metropolitan labor markets: Racial, ethnic, and gender differences. American Sociological Review, 66, 520-541. doi:10.2307/3088921
[28]	Min, P. G. (1995). Asian Americans: Contemporary trends and issues. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[29]	Min, P. G. (2006). Asian immigration: History and contemporary trends. In P. G. Min (Ed.), Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues (pp. 7-31). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
[30]	Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994). Racial formation in the United States. London: Routledge.
[31]	Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2005). Introduction: The second generation and the children of immigrants longitudinal study. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 983-999. doi:10.1080/01419870500224109
[32]	Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1995). Divergent destinies: Immigration, poverty and entrepreneurship in the United States. In K. McFate, R. Lawton, & W. J. Wilson (Eds.), Poverty, Inequality and the Future of Social Policy (pp. 489-520). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
[33]	Reeves, T. J., & Bennett, C. E. (2004). We the people: Asians in the United States. Census 2000 Special Report, US Census Bureau. US Government Printing Office.
[34]	Saenz, R., & Morales, M. C. (2005). Chapter 6: Demography of race and ethnicity. In D. L. Poston and M. Micklin (Eds.), Handbook of Population (pp. 169-208). New York: Springer Publishers. doi:10.1007/0-387-23106-4_7
[35]	Sakamoto, A., & Furuichi, S. (2002). The wages of native-born Asian Americans at the end of the twentieth century. Asian American Policy Review, 10, 17-30.
[36]	Sakamoto, A., & Furuichi, S. (1997). Wages among White and Japanese-American male workers. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 15, 177-206.
[37]	Sakamoto, A., Goyette, K. A., & Kim, C. (2009). Socioeconomic attainments of Asian Americans. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 255-276. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115958
[38]	Sanders, J. M., & Nee, V. (1996). Immigrant self-employment: The family as social capital and the value of human capital. American Sociological Review, 61, 231-249. doi:10.2307/2096333
[39]	Matthew, S. C., & Hirschman, C. (2005). Assimilation in American society: Occupational achievement and earnings for ethnic minorities in the United States, 1970 to 1990. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 522, 93-117.
[40]	Stokowski, R. P., Pant, P. V. K., Dadd, T., Fereday, A., Hinds, D. A., Jarman, C., Filsell, W., Ginger, R. S., Green, M. R., van der Ouderaa, F. J., & Cox, D. R. (2007). A genomewide association study of skin pigmentation in a south Asian population. American Journal of Human Genetics, 81, 1119-1132. doi:10.1086/522235
[41]	Takaki, R. (1998). Strangers from a different shore. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
[42]	Waters, M. C., & Eschbach, K. (1995). Immigration and ethnic and racial inequality in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 21, 419-446. doi:10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.002223
[43]	Weber, M. (1946 [1922]). Science as a Vocation. In H. H. Gerth, & C. W. Mills (Eds.), From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (pp. 129-156). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[44]	Wilson, W. J. (2009). More than just race: Being black and poor in the inner city. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
[45]	Xie, Y., & Goyette, K. A. (2004). Asian Americans: A demographic portrait. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
[46]	Zeng, Z., & Xie, Y. (2004). Asian Americans’ earnings disadvantage reexamined: The role of place of education. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1075-1108. doi:10.1086/381914
[47]	Zhou, M. (1997). Segmented assimilation: Issues, controversies, and recent research on the new second generation. International Migration Review, 31, 975-1008. doi:10.2307/2547421
[48]	Zhou, M. (2004). Coming of age at the turn of the twenty-first century: A demographic profile of Asian American youth. In J. Lee, & M. Zhou (Eds.), Asian American Youth (pp. 33-50). London: Routledge.
[49]	Zhou, M., & Kamo, Y. (1994). An analysis of earnings patterns for Chinese, Japanese, and non-Hispanic White males in the United States. Sociological Quarterly, 35, 581-602. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1994.tb00418.x