Asian American Stereotypes In The Workplace

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find themselves on the outside looking in. Subject to widespread stereotypes the community has largely internalized, Asian Americans are left with less opportunities to climb the corporate ladder than other groups. A closer analysis of Asians in the workforce reveal a massive underrepresentation extending throughout several fields: Asian Americans made up only 2% of the congressional population in 2012, 1.5% of Fortune 500 CEOs, and less than 1% of players in the NBA (Norris, “Looking at the Bamboo Ceiling”). Most prominently, this manifests in media as well, where even areas inhabited by a large number of Asian Americans see little representation or acknowledgment of their own race (Norris). The lack of Asian representation in the media only …show more content…
Thus, the entertainment industry forms a dreary chain in which Asian underrepresentation allows demeaning stereotypes to proliferate, which then work to prevent Asians from taking on roles in the entertainment industry. Stereotypes, however, are a two-way street. Asian Americans are pressured into their stereotypic role through a hegemonic society. Although stereotypes work from the outside-in, affecting the perception of non-Asian groups on Asians, they also work from the inside-out, as Asian Americans are pushed into limiting themselves to fulfill these stereotypes. In “Prescriptive Stereotypes and Workplace Consequences for East Asians in North America”, cultural psychologist Jennifer Berdahl points out that “Individuals who violate descriptive racial stereotypes suffer negative social reactions, suggesting that these descriptive stereotypes may be prescriptive as well” (141). Prescriptive racial stereotypes spring from historic social roles and inequalities. These stereotypes function to preserve those roles and …show more content…
Asians have proven to be just as capable a cohort as any other race. Instead, it is a perception problem. Asians are frozen in the image that they cannot be trusted in a leadership position. According to a study done by The Center for Work-Life Policy, “one-quarter of Asian respondents face work-place discrimination”, and it “reveals a belief often heard from workers and managers: Asian Americans are culturally uncomfortable with the type of swagger and self-promotion that often spells success in U.S. firms” (Stock, “Study Finds Asians Occupying Few Corner Offices”). The idea for why Asians are not given the same opportunities as other races to ascend to a leadership position echo a common reason for why Asians are not offered more opportunities in the entertainment industry: they lack the “swagger and self-promotion” apparently requisite of success. Although a broad, sweeping generalization, this deep-seated belief has real effects on the treatment of Asian Americans, who face discrimination and low job satisfaction when they try to break free of that image. These racial roadblocks result in Asians harboring a lot of anxiety about fitting in at the workplace and in the media, when they should have no qualms based on their education and experience. What, then, is the image that Asian Americans should
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