Contextual Changes, Dimensions of Distinctiveness, and Ethnic Continuity for Japanese Americans, 1980-2000
- ISBN-10
- 0542821133
- ISBN-13
- 9780542821134
- Category
- Americanization
- Pages
- 566
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2006
- Author
- Kristen Karen Peterson
Description
This dissertation explores the persistence of a racialized ethnic group over time by analyzing the changing contexts of common American signifiers of assimilation. I am particularly interested in how changes in the contexts of work, location, and family affect racial/ethnic continuities. The common expectation among social scientists is that Japanese Americans are moving toward complete assimilation in the United States. This expectation assumes that the distinctive features of Japanese American life have diminished over the generations. In this dissertation, I raise questions about this prospect in terms of the continuing distinctiveness of Japanese Americans at the end of the twentieth century. In particular, I examine three dimensions of social distinctiveness---occupations and industries, self-employment, and the identification of children in mixed Japanese-white families using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS), drawn from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Censuses. For each I include an examination of any variations among subgroups of Japanese Americans using a variety of descriptive measures as well as applying rnultivariate analyses. My empirical results question the over-simplified conclusion of total assimilation and loss of community and redirect our attention toward an analysis of contexts where integration has occurred and contexts where Japanese American distinctiveness remains evident. I find that Japanese Americans show a continued distinctiveness for occupational concentration and mixed-race identification, but not for industrial concentration or self-employment. Additional contexts of nativity status, gender, education, and co-ethnic community contribute differentially to Japanese American continuities. My general conclusion is that while some features of Japanese American life have become similar to the pattern for white non-Latino Americans, there are particular features that continue to distinguish Japanese Americans from others. Those contextual features, when taken together, point to community continuity despite changes. By considering the changes in context across dimensions of distinctiveness, this study reveals the relative importance of diverse processes of integration for shaping ethnic continuities in the Japanese American community. Additionally, by situating Japanese Americans in the larger U.S. racial hierarchy, I address the changing meaning of race and racial boundaries, and how they may apply to non-white ethnic groups in the future.
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