Daseler: ‘The Model Minority Stereotype’

The MMS: The view that Asian Americans can serve as a model for other ‘minorities’ (Asian Americans work harder, succeed, etc.)

While the stereotype seems ‘friendly’ it can serve various harmful social functions:

Some of the Various ‘Functions’ of the Stereotype:

(1)   Homogenizes cultural, historical, political, economic differences among Asian Americans to create one monolithic group (e.g., erases differences between Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Vietnamese Americans) in the imaginations of non-Asian American people.

(2)   Hides the socio-economic mechanisms by which other Americans are oppressed (e.g., “The success of Asian Americans proves that there is no real racism holding African Americans back”). Note that what enables the stereotype to hide inequality is the assumption that various forms of racism are all the same. The resulting view is that everybody can pull themselves up by the bootstraps so long as they try hard enough.

(3)   Obscures actual (sometimes harsh) realities for Asian Americans; pretends that there is no glass ceiling.

(4)   Enforces extreme expectations, harms people who don’t live up to them, forces people to live up to them.

(5)   Limits options and choices of Asian Americans.