Predicting group consciousness among Asian Americans: Considering commonalities, shared interests, panethnic group identification, and linked fate

Abstract

Identifying factors linked to the development of group consciousness is important toward bettering our understanding of group formation processes among marginalized ethnoracial groups. This study examines predictors of group consciousness among Asians and Asian Americans in the United States, focusing on numerous dimensions of this concept, including linked fate, panethnic group identification, and four specific sources of perceived group commonality and interests: (1) cultural, (2) economic, (3) political, and (4) racial. We use data from a national survey to examine socio‐structural, political, discrimination, and immigration correlates associated with separate dimensions of Asian group consciousness. We found that perceiving interpersonal discrimination increased the importance of being Asian; heightened the odds of feeling linked fate with other Asian people; and enhanced the odds of identification as “Asian American.” Republicans and Independents were less likely to perceive different elements of Asian group consciousness compared to Democrats. Educational attainment, income, gender, employment status, ethnicity, and English‐speaking comfortability had varying effects across certain measures of Asian group consciousness. For Asians and Asian Americans, interpersonal discrimination and certain socio‐structural, political, and immigration factors may be especially meaningful toward the development of linked fate, shared group interests and commonalities, and panethnic identification, all of which are key toward activating group consciousness.