Demeaning Stereotypes In The Meritocracy

Demeaning Stereotypes and the Culture of Silence in the “Meritocracy”
The “Asian model minority” is inevitably associated with a myriad of stereotypes. A few typical traits related to the stereotypical Asian are “nerdy,” “try-hards,” and “bookworms.” In addition, Asians are seen to be good at math, or at least supposed to be. However, people who are ignorant of the situation may still believe that being identified as the “model minority” with these “positive” stereotypes, such as being good at math, is not necessarily bad and may even be desirable. The issue is that these “positive” stereotypes are not always true and they create expectations that can harm the targeted population. It is also important to note that there is no such thing as …show more content…
At the same time, success is also attributed to family and cultural values. However, there are many problems with this implied meritocracy. For instance, people have different measures of success. While one person may view success in terms of materialistic means such as income, socioeconomic status, or political power, another person may relate success with feelings of well-being, happiness, and/or health. Success is also said to be knowing what true freedom is (Thrukpaew in “Myth of the Model Minority”). Another problem is that a meritocracy emphasizes individual success, yet Americans are using the “model minority” to generalize the hardworking qualities of the entire Asian race, in addition to the lack of work ethic in other racial groups. Ultimately, the “Asian model minority” is a myth that not only internalizes racial discrimination in other minority groups, but also categorizes Asians in a way that overlooks the underlying problems and pressures that they face. The stereotypes of the hardworking “model minority” also creates the myth of the meritocracy by making minorities falsely believe that they can easily achieve the same social and economic as the white Americans. While privileged, white Americans comfortably ride a escalator up the social hierarchy, the less privileged and discriminated minorities can be depicted as squeezing against one another in line to walk up the same social ladder. Going along with this image, the myth of the meritocracy exposes the fact that although most individuals have to ascend the social hierarchy, their background and unearned advantages oftentimes have a bigger effect on whether they achieve success under the meritocracy than their raw efforts or talents