TY - CHAP
T1 - Model of and Model for Ethnic Minorities
T2 - Individualization of the Model Minority Stereotype in Hong Kong
AU - CHEE, Wai Chi
PY - 2017/3/17
Y1 - 2017/3/17
N2 - In recent years, we have seen the emergence of media attention on “the first ever South Asian ...” in Hong Kong, including the first full-time Indian actor at a leading Chinese TV channel, the first Pakistani news reporter working for a Chinese news platform, the first Pakistani female police officer, the first Pakistani undergraduate to win the prestigious Jockey Club Scholarship, the first Indian and Pakistani registered social workers, as well as the first Pakistani Mutual Aid Committee chairman, who also became the first ethnic minority to sit on the District Fight Crime Committee. These individuals are celebrated as role models of and for ethnic minorities—models who have succeeded through the local systems. I argue that this is individualization of the model minority stereotype whereby individual attributes, rather than group characteristics, are used to explain ethnic minority success. This individualization has two effects. First, it disseminates the implicit and explicit message that Hong Kong allows for success based on meritocracy—that anyone who strives hard enough can make it in Hong Kong, thus masking the inequalities and difficulties challenging ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Second, the explanation of success is aligned with the degree of assimilation to reinforce Hong Kong’s cultural superiority, to perpetuate the cultural hierarchy and to confirm the ethnic minority stereotypes.
AB - In recent years, we have seen the emergence of media attention on “the first ever South Asian ...” in Hong Kong, including the first full-time Indian actor at a leading Chinese TV channel, the first Pakistani news reporter working for a Chinese news platform, the first Pakistani female police officer, the first Pakistani undergraduate to win the prestigious Jockey Club Scholarship, the first Indian and Pakistani registered social workers, as well as the first Pakistani Mutual Aid Committee chairman, who also became the first ethnic minority to sit on the District Fight Crime Committee. These individuals are celebrated as role models of and for ethnic minorities—models who have succeeded through the local systems. I argue that this is individualization of the model minority stereotype whereby individual attributes, rather than group characteristics, are used to explain ethnic minority success. This individualization has two effects. First, it disseminates the implicit and explicit message that Hong Kong allows for success based on meritocracy—that anyone who strives hard enough can make it in Hong Kong, thus masking the inequalities and difficulties challenging ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Second, the explanation of success is aligned with the degree of assimilation to reinforce Hong Kong’s cultural superiority, to perpetuate the cultural hierarchy and to confirm the ethnic minority stereotypes.
KW - Ethnic Minority
KW - Role Model
KW - Fast Food Restaurant
KW - Ethnic Minority Student
KW - Model Minority
U2 - 10.1007/978-981-10-3668-2_11
DO - 10.1007/978-981-10-3668-2_11
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9789811036675
SN - 9789811099366
T3 - The Humanities in Asia
SP - 193
EP - 210
BT - Hong Kong Culture and Society in the New Millennium
A2 - Chu, Yiu-Wai
PB - Springer Singapore
ER -