Honorary Whites or Realistic Threat? Asians as the Model Minority in Higher Education

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Racial/Ethnic Disparities: The Role of Social Context

Abstract

Honorary Whites, or Realistic Threat?
Asians as the Model Minority in Higher Education
Katherine McClelland, Franklin and Marshall College

The number of Chinese international students on American college campuses has increased dramatically in the last ten years. How has this affected attitudes towards and experiences of Asian students on campus more generally? Using data from a longitudinal case study of Windsor College, a small, selective liberal arts college in the East, I test two different predictions: first, that the increase in numbers will have little effect, as Asians are often regarded as “honorary whites”, and historically have reported positive experiences on campus; and second, that the model minority stereotype causes Asians to be viewed as a threat by other students, and thus increases in their number will lead to increases in negative feelings towards them. A comparison of data from before and after a significant increase in Asian student enrollments at Windsor generally supports the second hypothesis. Non-Asians who possess model minority stereotypes of Asians report more negative feelings towards them as the numbers of Asians on campus increases, while non-Asians who do not possess model minority stereotypes report more positive feelings with increased numbers. These differences persist even when controlling for contact with Asians, nor can they be explained by changes in Asian students’ actions and attitudes as these did not, for the most part, change dramatically as enrollment increased (though their rates of racial harassment declined much less than did those of their black and latino peers).

Author

• Katherine McClelland, Franklin and Marshall College