A Comparison of the Socioeconomic Attainments of Japanese-Brazilians and Japanese-Americans

• In Event: 449 - Regular Session. Asians in Systems of Ethnic Stratification

Abstract

This paper investigates the socioeconomic attainments of Japanese-Brazilians and compares them to Japanese-Americans. The findings indicate that Japanese-Brazilians have higher levels of education and wages than white-Brazilians while Japanese-Americans have higher levels of education and wages than white-Americans. The bivariate Japanese advantage in wages is greater in Brazil than in the U.S. According to many American sociologists, race relations are generally characterized by a traditional model of “white supremacy” according to which non-whites are posited to have lower socioeconomic status due to racial discrimination. Although Japanese-Brazilians and Japanese-Americans are non-white, our statistical analysis shows that education has the decisive effect in explaining why their wages are greater than those of whites. A broader paradigm for contemporary race relations would more systematically emphasize class characteristics including especially education given its salience in the 21st century even in very different economies.

Author

• Arthur Sakamoto, Texas A&M University