SOC 215
12.05.95
Final Paper
Yet crimes by Asian teens, both individually and in gangs, "have been cropping up like weeds ... What has gone wrong?" (Sigmund, 1995: 8). There seems to be an irony here, when one comparespopular views of Asian-Americans and their "admirable" work ethic with the ever increasing incidences of Asian-American youth crime. Upon a second examination, though, one may begin to question whether the phenomenon ofAsian-American crime actually opposes the "model minority" work ethic, considering crime as an occupation: if the Asian-American work ethic focuses on succeeding in the new world, then crime cannot be ruled out as an option toattaining financial class success.
But this reflection also proves problematic, given, among other factors, the cultural aspects of religion, thestressing of education as a means to success, and the concept of family honort hat would discount crime as a legitimate occupation. How then does crime fitwithin the Asian-American community? What could lead the "model minority" to resort t o crime as a way of life? Over the course of my examination of thebroad world of Asian-American crime, I have been led to theorize that"Asian-American crime" is a faulty descriptor of an uncertain "phenomenon,"further leading me to trust the argument that class, rather than culture,ethnicity, or race, is the primary factor in creating tendencies towards crimein American society. Historically and structurally speaking, it can moreeasily be seen how a new wave crime can come about within the Asian-A mericancommunity.
In 1965, Congress passed a new Immigration Act which abolished the oldnational-origins quota, increasing the limit of 100 immigrants from countrieswithin the "Asian-Pacific Triangle" (Takaki, 1989: 417-418) to 20,000 immigrants per country from the Eastern Hemisphere, plus immigrants accepted within family preference standards: specifically spouses, minor children, andparents of citizens (Takaki, 1989: 419). This created the second major wave of Asian immigration to America, but with marked differences from the first (during the mid 1800's): where the first wave was almost entirely composed ofblue-collar laborers, this latest one included significant numbers of professionals, students, and urbanites, catering to the "high-technology,service economy rather than an industrialized, agricultural one" (Takaki, 1989:420).
Into the 1970's, Asians who were "highly educated, middle class, andurban" arrived within a narrow window of time, allowing them to establishthemselves succ esfully in America (Lee, 1992: 97). This was the start of the Asian-American as the "model minority." Hard-working, stressing education asthe "bargaining chip" to success, they came to the States for a piece of thenew "Gold Mountain" (Leed, 1992: 97).
But more recently (mid 1980's topresent) the immigrants from Asia have been refugees from harsh politicalconditions in Southeast Asia, and, now that many Asian countries have achievedor are imminently close to first-world status, making it easier to achieve amiddle-class lifestyle, "Only the lower income bracket, those who don't havemuch chance [in their native countries] come" (Lee, 1992: 98). These immigrants arrive seeking new jobs and new opportunities that are dwindling forless skilled workers in their native lands. Also, 1965's new immigrationpolicy allows a wider family preference system to accept Asians into theStates. Qualified individuals who arrive with student or professional statusare free tickets for less advantaged, less educated, and/or less skilledrelatives to enter the United States outside of the 20,000 visa quota. Thecurrent family preference system admits not only spouses, minor children, andparents of citizens, but also siblings and children over the age of 21. But ,to many, coming to America has been a myth-shattering experience: "It's stillvery hard [to succeed]" (Lee, 1992: 98). Consequently, these new immigrantsarrive in America with little prospect for employment, contributing to thegrowing percentage of Asian-Americans living below the poverty line.
From Southeast Asia (e.g. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), many Asians were"forced" to immigrate to America, given the violent political conditions intheir native countries (Takaki, 1989: 449). In 1975, the United States Army air-lifted nearly 100,000 Vietnamese refugees to America, along with 40-60,000 more on the sea, protecting them from their native Communist government (Takaki, 1989: 449-451). Though many of the refugees were educated, a significant portion were unaccompanied minors, frequently sent to America to become citizens, which would make it easy for their families to immigrate through family preference visas (Takaki, 1989: 457). Shuffled into orphanages,foster homes, or dealing on their o wn, these children found it difficult tosurvive (Takaki, 1989: 457). As a result, many joined gangs, involvingthemselves in burglary to earn money (Takaki, 1989: 457-458).
Contrast this wave of Asian immigrants, forcefully relocated, with those arriving a decade before, who worked to come to America, looking for jobs and education. Their attitudes towards citizenship differs greatly, also: nearly half the Southeast Asians who arrived in the above manner describe themselves as sojourners, with prospects to return to their homelands, while most East and South Asians lookforward to naturalization and becoming official "Americans" (Takaki, 1989: 447,455). Thus, their reactions to assimilation and their resistancies toacculturation precondition them to a marginal position in American society, which, in turn, preconditions them to social frustration.
But the fact that a portion of Asian-America are doomed to remain socially marginal and frustrated in no way conditions criminality. Robert Merton in hischapter on "Social Structure and Anomie" argues that social deviance can come around in an individual when legitimate means to a socially desired goal are unavailable. To expand on Merton, for deviance to occur, there must also be access to illegit imate means to that goal. This seems obvious, but it is notalways necessarily true, which is hoped to be shown. Now, one must examinewhat factors in society would limit an Asian-American's access to theselegitimate means and/or illegitimate means tow ards a goal, taking the exampleof the recent immigrant who has a greater chance of being a member of the lowerclass.
Here follows a sample of a chart to explain the above analysis:
GOAL legitimate legitimate illegitim
ate illegitimate means means denied means means denied financial education and money for crime crime is success hard work to education; cultu
rally obtain language dishonorable; professional barrier; threat of status; racism; punishment;
entrepreunersh requires hard socially ip; success work unaccepted; in the media requires hard
work From the recent Asian immigrant's perspective, it appears that the cards arestacked against the individual to attaining financial success. The first meansto achieve financial status is through a professional job. A professional job requires training and in almost all cases some form of credentialled education.Immigrants who face a language barrier will have trouble attaining thateducation as well as finding a job which doesn't require proficiency inEnglish. If college is necessary, it will be difficult to raise the money toafford higher education, on top of the language barrier. Especially as a non-white minority, racism is a negative factor that cannot be discounted in the job market. And of course it requires hard work, which is an individualtrait. Entrepreunership is blocked by many of the same obstacles. And media success is forgettable because of the tiny market for Asian-Americans in the media to begin with. These are mainstream barriers that will be difficult tobreak.
Let us then look at the availablity of illegitimate means for the same immigrant. Given recent Asian immigrant status, the culture demands much honorin employment. Crime is generally lo oked down upon as deviant in all cultures.Therefore, there is not only social chastisement, but there is legalramifications in crime, discouraging criminal activity. And, again, crimerequires hard work. But, excepting hard work, the obstacles blockin g access to illegitimate means are culturally held, and through acculturation and assimilation into lower-class culture, these obstacles will soon be toppled.
The proliferation of Asian-American youth gangs contributes to the image of a"breakdown" in cultural values. Children from families of all classes arebeing sucked into the world of gang-related crime and violence. But, alongwith the above example of Vietnamese child refugees, this can also be explained to an extent, considering the work schedules and values of immigrantA sian-Americans. Parents are more likely to be away from home, working longhours, leaving their children to cope alone. Looking for family structure,many adolescent males find support in neighborhood gangs. There, they find surrogate "families," further supported by the cultural artifact of respect based upon a heirarchy of age. They learn from and respect their "older brothers," following their every command to fall in their favor, but also many times to avoid physica l and social punishment. Young males receive much support from their "older brothers": using the example of drinking alcoholamong elders, the younger male must always serve his elder and drink when"asked" to, but, in return, the elder must pay the bill.
Gang violence has never been unheard of, especially in recent immigrant groups, but there is increasing evidence that much violence and crime is individually inspired, as in two cases where two non-gang members were expelled from school for carry ing loaded guns (Lam, 1994: 1). As recent non-white immigrants, Asian-Americans are subject to a plethora of social frustrations."Dissatisfaction with home life and acculturation problems serve as some reasons for joining gangs. `[These Asian youth] think their parents are crazy,not Westernized'" (Lam, 1994: 1). Racism from the mainstream, as well as fromother Asian-Americans (see: traditional ethnic hatred between Japanese andKoreans, Vietnamese and Koreans, etc.), breeds resentment and social frustration that is hard to negotiate.
References:
Lam, May. "Gun Prevalence Finds Its Way To Asian Youth: You Don't HaveTo Be In A Gang To Band." Asian Week, Vol. 16, No. 14. Nov. 25, 1994.
Lee, Joann Faung Jean. Asian Americans. New York: The New Press.1992.
Sigmund, Suzanne. "Documentary Film Explores Asian Youth Crime." AsianPages. Vol. 5, No. 9. Jan. 14, 1995.
Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore. New York: PenguinB ooks. 1989.
© 1996 p. ham