The Re-defined Identity of Asian-American College Students on Facebook

• In Event: 084 - Student Forum Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Politics and Cultural Influence

Abstract

Such physical cues as gender and race/ethnicity play a pivotal role in the construction and endurance of our self-perception. Likewise, individual cultural orientations are also critical to the construction and endurance of our own self-perception. The main argument of my paper is that online viewers would reveal their own unvarying perceptions, especially personal stereotypes as a byproduct of gender, race/ethnicity, and culture, in their comments on several messages or images posted on Facebook. By selecting a sample of 30 Asian-American college students – 15 students for each gender, who are my Facebook friends, one of my findings will show that for the persons in the same gender group, there exists a consistency in their evaluations about different messages or images related to the smartness of Asian-Americans, the beauty of a North Korean woman, a picture of an Asian-American family, an image of an inter-racial couple, among others. However, the fact that that is not the case is shown in a comparison between both gender groups. Overall, my study is an attempt to examine whether and in what ways the construction of our self-perception in the off-line world is similar to, and differ from, that in the on-line world.

Author

• Jenny Yoo-Jo Oh, New York University