Mass culture versus class culture: some reflections on The Asian American Achievement Paradox

ABSTRACT

This comment argues that scholars have been too quick to dismiss Confucian culture as an explanation for the exceptional educational attainment of second generation Asian Americans. It shows that, for centuries, all classes in Confucian societies perceived education as the engine of upward mobility, not merely elites. For this reason, the children of working class Chinese and Japanese immigrants outperformed whites already before World War II. Furthermore, the educational outcomes of non-Confucian Asian Americans turn out to be unexceptional after their family backgrounds are taken into account. Thus, to the extent that Asian American schooling levels are unusual, it seems premature to attribute that achievement to class culture rather than mass culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Asian Americans
• model minority
• Hyper-selectivity
• Education
• Confucianism
• intergenerational mobility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Actually Lee and Zhou don’t label these two groups as Confucian. This is simply a misreading on Fernández-Kelly’s part.

2 The Pew Research Center (2019a, 2019b) reports a similar pattern.