Whites' and Asian Americans' Perceptions of Asian Americans as Targets of Affirmative Action¹

Abstract

Although Asian Americans are technically a protected group, perceptions of Asian Americans as targets of affirmative action are largely unexplored, as are the attitudes of Asian Americans toward affirmative action. This study compared Whites' (N = 142) and Asian Americans' (N = 85) perceptions of workplace‐related discrimination and affirmative action beneficiary status for Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Whites and Asian Americans agreed that Asian Americans experience less adverse impact on tests and benefit less from affirmative action than do Blacks or Hispanics. However, Asian Americans were more likely than Whites to perceive that Asian Americans suffer from discrimination and underrepresentation and should benefit from affirmative action.

The face of STEM: Racial phenotypic stereotypicality predicts STEM persistence by—and ability attributions about—students of color.

“…We also theorize that Black targets (specifically, Black male targets) may activate prejudice concerns more than Asian American targets of either gender. We make this argument based on the public image of Asian Americans as a “model minority”—that is, an ethnic minority group that has achieved economic and educational success (Kitano & Sue, 1973), seemingly experiences minimal discrimination (Bikmen & Durkin, 2014; Pew Research Center, 2010), and has little need for sympathy, concern, or supportive public policies (Chao, Chiu, & Lee, 2010; Lin, Kwan, Cheung, & Fiske, 2005; Weathers & Truxillo, 2008). Moreover, the content of stereotypes about Asian Americans is positive, as well as negative (Lin et al, 2005), and research suggests that people are less cautious about the expression of positive than negative stereotypes (Kay, Day, Zanna, & Nussbaum, 2013).…”

The costs of racism on workforce entry and work adjustment.

“…Median weekly earnings further obscure poverty rates and low educational attainment that exists among Asian Americans on the basis of multiple factors, including immigrant status, English language ability, and social class. They also do not portray disparities in returns on educational investment that Asian Americans continue to face, in addition to workplace discrimination and barriers of occupational stereotyping (Weathers & Truxillo, 2008). By "returns on investment," we refer to the tendency for Asian Americans to have lower earnings or to be less likely to be promoted to higher level management/ executive positions, compared with Whites with the same level of education who are employed in the same industry or occupation.…”

Equality for all? White Americans’ willingness to address inequality with Asian and African Americans.

“…The socioeconomic diversity of Asian Americans from different national origins is often ignored (Sakamoto, Goyette, & Kim, 2009) and the discrimination they experience in educational and occupational settings (Chou & Feagin, 2008; Woo, 2000; Zeng, 2011) is overlooked because of their overall success in the United States. As a result, Whites feel that Asian Americans do not need to benefit from social change policies such as affirmative action as much as other minority groups do (Weathers & Truxillo, 2008).…”