Asians as the model minority: Implications for US Government's policies

Abstract

Asian Americans are often perceived as a ‘model minority’– an ethnic minority that are high achieving, hardworking, self‐reliant, law‐abiding, as well as having few social and mental health problems. Although the impact of the model minority image on the US government's redistributive policies is a widely contested topic in public discourses, there has been little research on the association between the model minority image, people's worldviews, and attitudes towards the US government's redistributive policies. In an experiment that measured American participants' worldviews and manipulated the salience of the model minority image, we have demonstrated that those who believed in a malleable social reality were relatively unsupportive of government policies that help the Asian American (vsAfrican American) communities. Theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed.