Disharmonious Chinese ethnic business: intergroup stereotypes among Chinese migrant employees in Australia

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on perceptual divisions in the ethnic businesses and how PRC-Chinese and Taiwanese employees navigate and contest ethnic stereotypes within Chinese workplaces in Australia. Literature has highlighted internal ethnicity in the overseas Chinese ethnic businesses; but there has been little examination of the structural and symbolic aspects that lead Chinese migrant employees to generate specific ethnic stereotypes of other subgroups. Relying on sixteen months of fieldwork and in-depth interviews with thirty-two Chinese migrant employees, this article shows that the stereotyping of ethnic Chinese bosses as an integrated group and sub-ethnic stereotypes of PRC-Chinese or Taiwanese employers are symbiotic. Chinese ethnic workplaces in Australia are internally divided along sub-ethnic lines and refracted through employment relationship. Meanwhile, group interactions in the workplace reveal an awareness of ethnic differences and present specific ethnic stereotypes of others.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic business
• ethnic stereotype
• intergroup perception
• internal ethnicity
• Chinese
• Australia

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented at the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University, I appreciate the feedback and suggestions from the audience at the department seminar. I also thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive and encouraging comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This visa is for young people to take a holiday and work in Australia for up to a year. See: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/417 (accessed 6 November 2018).

2 Though I did not find significant identity difference between these two groups. Long-term migrants do not have significantly stronger or weaker identities than the temporary migrants.

3 My participants were asked to answer a few questions such as self-identification (ethnic Chinese, Taiwanese/PRC-Chinese, or both), whether national identity is important before and after migrating to Australia (scale 1–5), whether they have issues with another subgroup in everyday life and in the workplace (scale 1–5), whether the PRC-Chinese (or Taiwanese) employers are friendly (scale 1–5), whether they feel any differences working for PRC-Chinese or Taiwanese employers (scale 1–5). The survey results suggest that national identity does significantly change its weight during the migration process, either for Taiwanese or PRC-Chinese respondents. Most respondents also reported they got along with the other subgroup in their everyday lives and in the workplace.

4 See the statistics about migration in Australia. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/lookup/3412.0Media%20Release12015-16 (accessed 6 November 2018).

5 See updated international student data from the Department of Education and Training. Accessed 6 November 2018. https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/default.aspx.

6 The Working Holiday Maker visa program is comprised of the Working Holiday (subclass 417) visa and the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa programs. The key differences between the two visas are that Work and Holiday visa arrangements generally have caps on the number of visas granted annually. For example, the quota for China is 5,000 per year. See Working Holiday Visa Programme Report (2018). Accessed 6 November 2018. https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/working-holiday-report-jun18.pdf.

7 Superannuation refers to the arrangements which people make in Australia to have funds available for them in retirement.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship [grant number ERF_RDDH_4425_2015].