Миф о «образцовом меньшинстве»: социологический феномен.

Sociological phenomenon
The model minority myth is a sociological phenomenon that refers to the stereotype of, as well as data on, certain minority groups, particularly Asian Americans, as successful, and well adjusted, as demonstrating that there is little or no need for social or economic assistance for the same or different minority groups. The model minority stereotype emerged in the United States during the Cold War in the 1950s and was first explicitly used as a term in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement as an antithesis to African American claims of racial oppression and has perpetuated notions that other minority groups can achieve the same success through hard work and that discrimination and systemic barriers do not impede upward mobility. The model minority myth has been widely criticized as oversimplistic and misleading, and for being used to justify discriminatory policies and neglect of marginalized communities.

During World War II, when Japanese Americans faced immense pressure to behave as model citizens in order to quell racist sentiment toward those of Japanese heritage, the image of a model minority emerged. The image of a model minority continued to grow in prominence after World War II because the Japanese American community had experienced significant economic and educational success. Post World War II, the conception of a model minority fit with American nation building efforts during the Cold War in the 1950s. In this era, the United States was particularly concerned with the threat of communism, and race mixing. Specifically, the United States was concerned with the expansion of a communist China, and made every effort to contain the expansion of Chinese influence throughout Asia and beyond. This policy of racial assimilation showed to nations threatened to be influenced by communism that the United States was a liberal democracy where people of color could achieve socioeconomic prosperity. The growing acceptance of the model minority myth may be partially attributed to the 1965 Immigration Act, which abolished national origin quotas and based admission on skills and profession instead. As a result, from 1965 to 1979, many immigrants from Asia were highly educated professionals, like physicians and scientists, and this demographic and their children makes up a significant portion of the Asian American community today. Today, similar to the skilled based immigration resulting from the 1965 Immigration Act, many Asian American immigrants who are highly educated are often selected through student visas for higher education, H1 B skill based visas, or merit based immigration systems that favors those with advanced degrees or specialized skills. This has led to a disproportionate concentration of highly educated and successful Asian Americans in certain professions, such as medicine, engineering, and technology, that continues to fuel the model minority myth.

Because the model minority myth suggests that those designated as model minorities, such as Asian Americans, are a homogenous group characterized by a singular conception of educational and occupational success, This can lead to a neglect of policies and programs that address systemic barriers of success and can also contribute to inter minority tensions and further discrimination. For instance, some scholars argue that the model minority myth has been used as a tool to assist the advancement of color blind ideologies and agendas within politics that argue against the existence of racial oppression or its alleged impact on economic outcomes, and reinforce the attainability of the American Dream. By using the model minority myth as a tool to perpetuate the American Dream and blame other people of color for their own struggles, critics of the model minority myth worry that it could erode support for government assistance programs. and to distract individuals from noticing and criticizing systems of White dominance.