dagblog - Comments for "The Rise of Asian Americans; Meet the New Immigrants"

As they state: The Pew

Elusive Trope — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:48:11 +0000

In reply to The survey doesn't mention

As they state:

The Pew Research Center survey was designed to contain a nationally representative sample of each of the six largest Asian-American groups by country of origin—Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans and Japanese Americans. Together these groups comprise at least 83% of the total Asian population in the U.S.

So the target of the study was on these specific groups because of their representative size in this country.

If you read the report, you

Elusive Trope — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:43:07 +0000

In reply to It's weird, as it compares a

If you read the report, you can see they are not attempting to create an unified demographic.

A little example:

There are subgroup differences in social and cultural realms as well. Japanese and Filipino Americans are the most accepting of interracial and intergroup marriage; Koreans, Vietnamese and Indians are less comfortable. Koreans are the most likely to say discrimination against their group is a major problem, and they are the least likely to say that their group gets along very well with other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. In contrast, Filipinos have the most upbeat view of intergroup relations in the U.S.

Moreover, they were comparing Asian-American immigrants with immigrants from other areas of the world. Of course, this means comparing one group which is quite diverse, with other large groups, each which are diverse. At some point, the generalizations become meaningless. But there is some value in comparing large groups.

For instance, one can do a comparison between Mid-West Americans and their politics with the politics of Northeast Americans. There are some generalizations one can make from the findings, but it is not going to give the whole story. To disregard the information value of the findings it does generate simply because it doesn't tell the whole story or capture all of the nuances is just plain stupid.

The survey doesn't mention

Donal — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:25:04 +0000

In reply to One of the key stats here is

The survey doesn't mention Central Asians (Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tajiks, Turkmens or Uzbeks), or even Russians. I could believe that there are very few Central Asian immigrants. Russian accents are quite numerous around my community pool, though, so I wonder if most of them are Euro-Russians.

It's weird, as it compares a

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:21:29 +0000

In reply to One of the key stats here is

It's weird, as it compares a people descend from a single Iberian country with unrelated peoples with unrelated language from a wide swath of the largest continent & islands (includes Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, Japan - presumably Burma, Malay, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Laos & Nepal count as well)

And at 5.8% of total population for these 20 or more countries/ethnic groups, it's a resounding "who cares?" Trying to create a unified demographic out of all of these is pretty silly, but Pew does its best anyway. "Asians love their mothers - and rice". There, it's established. Funny they didn't ask about Euthanasia as long as they were on a roll.

One of the key stats here is

Elusive Trope — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:52:32 +0000

In reply to The Rise of Asian Americans; Meet the New Immigrants

One of the key stats here is that 74% of Asian-Americans were born abroad. Asian traditional cultures tend to be more conservative than your general liberal Western cultures in the sense that Asian cultures tend to subsume the individual into the group rather than putting the individual on the pedestal. My guess is when one looks at the second and third generation Asian Americans, they are more Western than Asian in their outlook.

The Asian cultures don't value family more than Western cultures, but rather have a difference in understanding the dynamics and roles of the family and the various individuals within it. The implications on the formation of identity and views of individual freedom and expression is what leads to some to view Asian-Americans (those who are more culturally tied to their Asian culture heritage) as being more conservative than less.

One thing I noticed about the survey that caught my eye is that it includes those from India as being Asian-American. This is as should be, but I think many if not most Americans when they see the phrase "Asian-American" think of those who family is from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc.

Wiki say: Majored in English

Qnonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:02:14 +0000

In reply to Fuggedaboudit ya canuck, NYC

Wiki say:

Majored in English Literature. Missing a ligament in his elbow. Sexually abused as a kid. Tenneseean. Born again Christian. Carries around Yann Martel and Hemingway. Learns to throw the knuckler, gives up 6 home runs in his first start. Age 37, it all clicks, develops a major league career.

See, now that's a PROPER storyline. America needs more white people like him.

LEARN TO THROW KNUCKLERS, WHITE AMERICA!

YOU GOT NO HEAT LEFT, THE ARM'S GOT A LOT OF HARD INNINGS ON IT, AND THERE'S NOBODY WARMING UP IN THE BULLPEN.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE!

Fuggedaboudit ya canuck, NYC

artappraiser — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:46:44 +0000

In reply to Surely a bit of higher-level

Fuggedaboudit ya canuck, NYC sports fans are way ahead of yas, the salsa dancer and the Linsanity are so yesterday, in da trash can, the new "black" is a born-again Christian white guy who wanted to be an English professor when he grew up (but looks kinda like the Kenny Powers character on HBO)....

Nine Seventy Nine or

EmmaZahn — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 02:54:11 +0000

In reply to Surely a bit of higher-level

Nine Seventy Nine or Fight!

If we are gonna seal off border.

Surely a bit of higher-level

Qnonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 02:21:26 +0000

In reply to The Rise of Asian Americans; Meet the New Immigrants

Surely a bit of higher-level cogitation and free-thinking individual effort on behalf of we white people will enable us to come up with a scheme to set these here Asiatics at the throats of them there Hispanishes. After all White America, we didn't make it to the top of Phylum Rodentia by playing nicey-nicey - and none of you seem the types to take too kindly to eatin' from cans. But if you wanna stay King Rat, you gotta PLAY like King Rat.

To whit. Time to pull up your knee-high sweat socks and wipe off the Euro-tan from a can, America. Welcome (back) to the working week. Herewith, a plan:

1st step: Brick up that border, stave in the docks, and cut off the foreigners supply lines.

2ndly: I wanna see every UFC fight you broadcast for the next 15 years set up as Korean fella v. a Dominican. Then China v. Mexico. Followed by Thailand v. Jamaicalahara.

After all, how do you think we taught our children to hate the Germans? WRESTLING. Cause it damn sure wasn't Hogan's Heroes.

There we go. A plan. But Jesus, people. Do I have to do all the heavy lifting myself?

A day or two ago, I heard a

artappraiser — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:17:08 +0000

In reply to As long as they're

A day or two ago, I heard a program on NPR (can't find which one, unfortunately--spent about 20 minutes looking and gave up)

talking about how Asian immigrants are interested in and are taking the high tech back room jobs that a lot of Americans aren't interested in. That Americans who go into high tech, who have spent the time and money getting educated in that area, do so wanting the "front room" jobs like in marketing, and aren't interested in doing things like crunching code in cubicles 10 hours a day. That this is the crux of many complaints you read/hear from corporations about not being able to fill certain necessary jobs with Americans. That it isn't so much about pay, it's about the type of jobs Americans educated in the area want and train for, whereas Asian foreigners trained in this "back room" stuff are precisely looking for and happy with jobs in the same.

I have noticed a somewhat similar divide in medicine, where the behind the scenes MD's like anesthesiologists and radiologists so often seem to be Asian immigrants.

As for rich immigrant CEO's, both Asian and Hispanic, there are some, but the ones I've read of aren't taking other CEOs' jobs; they are creating their own and jobs for others at the same time:

Moving to U.S. and Amassing a Fortune, No English Needed
By Kirk Semple, New York Times, November 8, 2011

[....] Mr. Sanchez has lived the great American success story. He turned a business selling tortillas on the street into a $19 million food manufacturing empire that threaded together the Mexican diaspora from coast to coast and reached back into Mexico itself.

Mr. Sanchez is part of a small class of immigrants who arrived in the United States with nothing and, despite speaking little or no English, became remarkably prosperous. And while generations of immigrants have thrived despite language barriers, technology, these days, has made it easier for such entrepreneurs to attain considerable affluence.

Many have rooted their businesses in big cities with immigrant populations large enough to insulate them from everyday situations that demand English. After gaining traction in their own communities, they have used the tools of modern communication, transportation and commerce to tap far-flung resources and exploit markets in similar enclaves around the country and the world.

“The entire market is Hispanic,” Mr. Sanchez said of his business. “You don’t need English.” A deal, he said, is only a cheap long-distance phone call or a few key strokes on the computer away. “All in Spanish,” he added [....]

In New York City, successful non-English-speaking entrepreneurs like Mr. Sanchez have emerged from the largest immigrant populations, including those from China, South Korea and Spanish-speaking countries.

Among them is Zhang Yulong, 39, who emigrated from China in 1994 and now presides over a $30-million-a-year cellphone accessories empire in New York with 45 employees.

Kim Ki Chol, 59, who arrived in the United States from South Korea in 1981, opened a clothing accessories store in Brooklyn and went on to become a successful retailer, real estate investor and civic leader in the region’s Korean diaspora.

In the United States in 2010, 4.5 million income-earning adults who were heads of households spoke English “not well” or “not at all,” according to the Census Bureau; of those, about 35,500 had household incomes of more than $200,000 a year

Nancy Foner, a sociology professor at the City University of New York who has written widely on immigration, said it was clear that modern technology had made a big difference in the ability of immigrant entrepreneurs with poor or no English skills to expand their companies nationally and globally. [....]