ASIAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATES

BY: JESSA MARIE VIRAY

CBET-01-901P
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To help better understand what it’s like to be an Asian American, we’ll learn:
 How typical myths and stereotypes about Asian Americans compare with reality

 How the current situation has evolved from past history

 The major Asian American communities and the key cultural values, customs, and
issues that are important to them

 How you can help Asian American employees overcome barriers to career success

 How you can help your organization build upon Asian American strengths
WHO ARE THE ASIAN
AMERICANS?

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 2013-

2015 American Community Survey (IPUMS).
 HISTORICAL TIMELINE
 The Chinese: Gold, Railroads, and Exclusion

 The Japanese: Migration, War, and Concentration

Camps

 Civil Rights laws of the

1960s
 • Second Generation (1940s to 1960s)
Generation Gaps
• First Generation (immigrated
from China or Japan in the
early years)

• Third and Fourth Generation (during or after the 1970s)

MYTHS AND REALITIES
Myth #I- Asian Americans tend to retain their foreign ways, so it’s
difficult for them to fit in.

 Asian Americans have traditionally coped with the exotic, perpetual foreigner
myth because Euro-Americans have seen them as:

- immigrants who represent a small segment of the American population

- people of color who bear distinct physical differences

- people from a culture and lifestyle that is just too different for comfort

- people who can never be completely absorbed into American society and politics
MYTHS AND REALITIES
Myth #2-Asian Americans are unemotional and inscrutable.

 Euro-Americans often complain that they can’t tell what Asian Americans are thinking or feeling, so
they’re labelled as unemotional and inscrutable.

Myth #3-Asian Americans are too passive and polite to be good managers.

 they’re polite and therefore lack the conviction and backbone to stand up to the heat a
supervisor must take

 they’re compliant, therefore passive, which means they don’t have the ambition it takes to
move up the competitive corporate ladder
Myth #4-Asian Americans can’t seem to master English grammar
and pronunciation--they have communication problems.

 Asian languages are about as different from English as languages can

be. Therefore, becoming fluent and proficient is a long, arduous process
for Asian American immigrants.

Myth #5-Asian Americans are good in technical occupations, but they

don’t have creative or leadership potential.

 This myth is a faulty distortion that creates a huge barrier to career mobility. It’s
related to the idea that Asian Americans are technical “coolies,” computer
nerds, or memorization whizzes, great at crunching numbers but short on people
skills and creativity
Myth #6-Asian Americans know about all things Asian.

 Some Euro-American business persons tend to look upon the company’s “token”
Asian Americans as the resident experts on all things Asian American-and Asian, for
that matter.

Source: Diversities Success Strategies by Norma Car- Rufino Ph.D