Asian American Race Consciousness and Attitudes toward Race-Conscious Admission: Evidence from the 2016 National Asian American Post-election Survey

• In Event: 3511 - Race, Higher Education and Myths of Affirmative Action

Abstract

The recent surveys and studies show that Asian Americans has divergent attitudes toward affirmative action, which cannot be summarized in total endorsement or opposition. Then, what makes those attitudinal differences within the Asian American population? Put differently, which Asian Americans are likely to have either a positive or negative attitude toward race-conscious college admission? Drawing on the 2016 National Asian American post-election Survey, this paper highlights the Asian Americans’ consciousness to other races—Blacks, Hispanic/Latinos, and Whites—as a predictor of their attitudes toward race-conscious college admission, controlling other indicators revealed by past studies of this issue. To measure the race consciousness, three variables are chosen to build an ordered logistic regression model: support for a social movement against anti-Black racism (BLM, Black Lives Matter), assumption of non-Asian races’ intelligence, and political commonality with non-Asian races. Consequently, this research finds that Asian Americans’ perceptions of African Americans and affirmative action are significantly associated, while their consciousness of White and Hispanic/Latinos does not show significance. Asian Americans are more likely to endorse race-conscious admission when they support BLM more, evaluate Blacks’ intelligence more positively, and feel that they have a deeper commonality with Blacks. This result implies the current debate upon the relationship between Asian Americans and affirmation action have something to do with anti-Black social order rather than other types of racism such as White supremacy and anti-Latinx attitude.

Author

• Ji-won Lee, State University of New York, Albany