Failed Success: Korean Americans, Structure-Culture, and the Meaning of Success

• In Event: 303 - Regular Session. Asians and Asian Americans

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing on previous studies that have identified an inverse relationship between a student’s academic achievement and sense of self-satisfaction, we examine the findings in relation to second-generation Korean Americans. By way of in-depth interview data, specifically of middle-class college students who attend the University of California system or comparable and better schools, this study examines how the group’s locations in social structures of class and race/ethnicity shape the modes by which they define “success.” Our study reveals the diverging patterns of how the interplay of structural and cultural dynamics, including emotions, redefine perceptions of success over time and produce unintended consequences. Notwithstanding the exceptions to these patterns or the complex layers within, the authors encourage scholars to move beyond a singular or objective focus on what constitutes academic “success” for groups of color.

Authors

• Nadia Y. Kim, Loyola Marymount University

• Christine Jin Oh, Los Angeles County