Ideological osmosis : Asian immigrants' understanding of racial inequalities in the U.S
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation aims to understand the social psychological process of ideology of racial inequalities, and makes both theoretical and empirical contributions. Theoretically, it tests the utility of a conceptual framework that combines a number of social psychological approaches to long-lasting intergroup inequalities. It assumes that inequalities and ideologies feed into each other, and intends to find out the osmotic strength of the dominant race ideology in the US society by examining micro-level intergroup ideologies in immigrants. It adopts a relatively new model of stereotype contents in looking at the interrelations among status, competence and warmth traits and how they jointly legitimize existing social inequalities, and applies it to an immigrant population that has rarely been studied in this light. Empirically, the project consists of two sets of studies. I first used data from the Los Angeles Study of Urban Inequality to examine the micro processes delineated in the theoretical framework, comparing first-generation and later-generation Asian Americans—a purportedly high-status group—to whites, the high-status dominant group. Next, I used data I collected through an online questionnaire to gauge the association between cultural orientation and social categorization as bases of racial stereotypes, comparing Asian respondents to whites. Key findings include a fairly consistent racial ideology among whites which I interpret as the dominant racial ideology because it conforms to principles of individual-based meritocracy ascribable as a quintessential American character. I find Asians, especially the foreign-born, to be less "ideologically consistent" compared to whites if holding the dominant ideology as the standard. In addition, in certain aspects, foreign-born Asians resemble whites more than native-born Asians do in embracing the principles of hard work, while the native-born show signs of stronger solidarity with other minority groups. Ideological assimilation, therefore, is not a straight line process that "improves" across generations. For Asians, convergence to a core "American" ideology may be stronger in the first generation but weaker in the second generation as a result of the combination of racialization and birthright. Implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Li, Yan |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Sociology |
| Primary advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
| Thesis advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
| Thesis advisor | McDermott, Monica, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Walder, Andrew G. (Andrew George), 1953- |
| Advisor | McDermott, Monica, 1971- |
| Advisor | Walder, Andrew G. (Andrew George), 1953- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Yan Li. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Sociology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2012. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Yan Li
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