Negotiating the workplace: second-generation Asian American professionals’ early experiences

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on Asian American educational attainment suggests that a combination of immigrant hyper-selectivity and ethnic capital enables second-generation Asian Americans to succeed according to a narrowly-defined success frame. However, recent quantitative work suggests that ethnoracialized advantages within the educational system do not translate into advantages in the workplace. This study therefore examines second-generation Asian Americans’ experiences as they seek work in the labour market. I draw from 30 semi-structured qualitative interviews with 1.5- and second-generation Asian Americans in the New York City area, all of whom had entered the full-time workforce within the previous ten years. I find that these recent labour market entrants faced three major constraints and enacted several strategies in response. Family and community networks no longer provided the same ethnoracialized resources and network ties that might enable educational success; in response, workers mobilised institutional resources and peer networks. Once in the workplace, respondents experienced racialized microaggressions; in response, they minimised the role of race. Finally, they encountered negative stereotyping; in response, they worked to distance themselves from such stereotypes. Overall, these findings shed light on how ethnoracialized processes impact the presumed link between educational and occupational success.