This research paper discusses the concept of Asian American success and the degree to which it is myth or reality. Asian American immigrants and their descendants have achieved a quite remarkable degree of success in improving their material well being in the United States and otherwise becoming useful citizens; however, patterns of success and acculturation have varied across the diverse Asian American population at different times and some problems remain to be addressed.
During the 1980s and 1990s, a flurry of books and articles appeared which extolled Asian Americans for the progress they had made in adapting to American life and in achieving economic gains. Social demographer William Peterson at Berkeley called Asian Americans a model minority (Winnick 23). President Ronald Reagan said they were "exemplars of hope and inspiration" (bell 26). Kitano said that the previous stereotype of Asian Americans as sly and untrustworthy aliens of the Fu Manchu variety had been replaced a new image of a "a hard-working, quiet, achievement-oriented people with a minimum of social problems" (125). On closer analysis, it is apparent that the truth concerning Asian Americans is more complex. More than 20 nationality groups have been lumped into the category of Asian Americans (including Pacific islanders), each of whom has distinctive religions, cultural heritages and unique historical experiences before they arrived in the United States and sense. Most Asian Americans are uncomfortable with the image of them projected in these media which they know to be oversimplified. Not all groups in American society welcomed their presence or reacted the same way to their success.
Prior to recent decades, Asian Americans were a relatively insignificant minority in America who had achieved only modest success and endured a great deal of discrimination. Today Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority and a significant target of consumer market...