Korean Americans and the “Success” Image: A Critique

Asian Americans have been recently depicted as “successful” or “model” ethnic groups despite their past sufferings from prejudice and discrimination. This image of Asian Americans and their reputed position in the American racial and ethnic hierarchy raises several questions. First, to what degree is this image valid? Second, how has the success of Asian Americans been empirically measured and interpreted? Third, what are the implications of such an image for race/ethnic relations in the United States? In establishing answers to these questions, we will examine recent Korean immigrants in Los Angeles. A review of the literature reveals a number of interesting trends. During the mid-l960s, both the major mass media and scholarly works promoted the image of Asian Americans as successful minorities. ‘The media first cited Japanese and Chinese Americans as minorities that had attained success in American society. In the 1970s, Koreans were included in this success story as were recent refugees from Indochina. ’ Currently the success theme is applied to most Asian ethnic groups. Scholarly support and promotion of the success theme has continued to the present, although the bulk of this literature was written prior to the mid-I970s.* During the late 1970s, however, a number of scholarly and government publications disputed or rejected the alleged socioeconomic success of Asian Americans in American ~ociety.~