Perceived Discrimination and Racial Identity among Asian Americans

• In Event: Asian American Politics: Race, Identity, and Political Behavior

Abstract

Does the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination during the pandemic lead to heightened levels of racial identity and collective sense of linked fate among Asian Americans? Previous studies have focused on the nexus between the marginalized status of Asian Americans as a pan-ethnic group and the formation of racial consciousness and political identity, finding the relatively lower levels of group consciousness and political mobilization among the minority population particularly puzzling. We argue that the literature glosses over, and has failed to empirically test, the role such important factors as ethnic identity and anti-China sentiment have played in shaping the perceptions of shared racial status among this immigrant-based population. We plan to test this argument using a survey experiment on Asian Americans in the context of pandemic politics. Respondents are randomly assigned to either a control or one of two treatment conditions that activate the “push” and “pull” factors of Asian American racial identification. In the “Anti-Asian hate condition,” respondents will be exposed to a message about growing racism and discrimination against Asians in American society during the pandemic. In the “China threat condition,” respondents will read an additional message that discusses the rise of China and Sino-American competition as a context of domestic racial violence. With a unique sample of Asian American respondents with diverse ethnic and national origins, we expect to find that pre-existing levels of ethnic identity and attitudes toward China significantly moderate Asian American responses to perceived racial discrimination and the formation of racial consciousness and political attitudes. Our study innovates extant scholarship on American racial politics by revisiting the previously neglected yet salient factors of racial group identification among Asian Americans.

Authors

• Jae Yeon Kim, Johns Hopkins University

• Joan E. Cho, Wesleyan University

• D.G. Kim, Harvard University

• Taeku Lee, Harvard University