Stuck from NYU Press
By Louis Chan, AsAmNews National Correspondent
John Savath feels stuck.
All the first generation Laotian American wants is to have a stable job.
“No matter how well I do, I’ll always get that talk with high-level management that I need to be ‘socially fit,'” the software engineer told AsAmNews.
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To sociologist Margaret Chin, it comes down to a matter of trust. Trust is something she says even Harvard educated Asian Americans have trouble winning.
“When you move up to a certain level, the executives up there have to believe in you – believe in you enough to give you a key to the organization,” Chin said to AsAmNews.
Chin’s new book, Stuck-Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach The Top of the Corporate Ladder, examines the lack of Asian American CEOs despite the overrepresentation of Asians at such schools at Harvard and Princeton.
The idea for the book came when the author, City University of New York professor and Harvard graduate attended a reception for newly admitted Harvard students. The room was filled with Asians.
“Somebody made a comment that ‘wow it’s been like at least 30 years since we’ve admitted so many Asian Americans. Where are all you guys? Are you all doing really well?'”
She decided to look into it.
For her study, Chin interviewed 103 Asian Americans. All of them were born in the United States or came to the country before the age of 13.
Half went to Ivy League schools, a quarter went to other selective schools, and the rest went to other four year colleges. They’re also culturally American and know all the cultural references.
“The reason why that’s significant is because that socially people who came here before the age of 13 don’t have an accent. They’re socially recognized as Asian American, or people have no clue that they weren’t born here,” she said.
“You know you would assume that this group would do really well,” she said. Yet she found the higher up the ladder you go, the fewer Asian Americans you see. She discovered many in her study group were stuck in their careers.
According to Chin, there are less than 12 Asian American CEOs in the Fortune 500 right now. She also points to the lack of Asian American lawyers who have made it to the rank of partner. A 2017 study found Asian Americans have the lowest associate to partner ratio of any ethnic group.
“They were told that they didn’t have enough skills to move up,” Chin said about her study group. “They didn’t have the leadership skills, whatever. But then when you look at the 103, a lot of them talk about the same kinds of problems, you begin to realize that it’s probably racism and it’s probably systemic.”
She said some of those she interviewed blamed racism for their lack of upward mobility- for being stuck. Others recall being treated badly or working with a manager who didn’t want to promote them. Some said it was “personal,” but declined to call it racism.
Savath, the Laotian American interviewed in the beginning of this story, also doesn’t call it racism, but he comes close. As with many other Asian Americans, he has a bachelor degree, although he doesn’t fall into the 1.5 generation or higher who Chin sought to interview for her study.
“Sometimes it comes off as being targeted for discrimination because I’ll be in a team full of developers and they are all Whites and I’ll be the only non-white in that team,” Savath said. “I’m easily outcasted after that. No matter how hard I work, people use my profile as leverage against me.”
Just like with Savath, Chin saw a lack of opportunity for many in her study group. She says it could come down to a lack of exposure in a company- not being given the opportunity to present or take on a high profile project.
“Even though you do really, really well, you still might not be exposed to the right people that will promote you,” Chin said.
She points to the Susan Fiske study which measures warmth and competence. Asian Americans are often perceived as ranking lower in warmth and higher in competence. The perceived lack of warmth also translates into a lack of trust.
“You actually see this quite clearly now with the pandemic,” Chin said.”One of the things is that they don’t trust you because you’re a foreigner. You’re perpetually foreign.
“This thing about being a perpetual foreigner, you don’t actually fit in there. Even though you have the same degrees, you’re actually fully English speaking, you’re actually born here, citizenship doesn’t really protect you. So that’s when the stereotypes come out.”
Chin suggests several ways to overcome this. Build allies. Bring up people behind you. Seek out mentors and sponsors who will look out for you. Be yourself.
“If you feel comfortable with your Asian Americanness, let people know about that. If you’re an Asian American woman, it’s part of understanding you as a whole person. You’re not hiding yourself, trying to be more American than them.”
Stuck-Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder is published by NYU Press.
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important research, thanks! Darby Li Po Price (Chin on mother’s side)