Ethnic Minorities: Playing the Institutional Game

• In Event: 351 - Section on Asia and Asian America Paper Session. Work, Labor, and Inequality in Asian America

Abstract

With a growing population of college-educated, second generation children of immigrants joining the labor force, it is necessary to examine the implications of race and ethnicity at the work place. However there is limited research on this issue, particularly about the privatized, corporate world where ethnic minorities and racial discourses are less visible, and the politics of promotion, attrition, hiring, and firing are less transparent. This paper uses ordinary language analysis of narratives presented in open-ended interviews of young, Asian American professionals, to begin to understand the implications of race as it pertains to institutional politics in corporate America from the perspective of the employee. What the interviews may suggest is that discriminatory practices in the corporate system are discrete and veiled by a hegemonic corporate culture emphasizing success through meritocracy, which downplays the salience of race. What is potentially problematic is that those Asian Americans most likely to succeed in upward mobility are more likely to commit to a color-blind approach to professional success. Thus such individuals are less likely to contribute to structural changes that allow for increased representation of ethnic minorities in higher positions. Thus the nature of color-blind corporate culture and its relationship to racial inequality at the work place needs to be further examined.

Author

• Hyein Lee, City University of New York-Graduate Center