ERIC ED404897: The Social Construction of "Visible Minority" for Students of Chinese Origin.

25 Pages·1994·0.34 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
HE 029 901
ED 404 897
Grayson, J. Paul; And Others
AUTHOR
The Social Construction of "Visible Minority" for
TITLE
Students of Chinese Origin.
York Univ., Toronto (Ontario). Inst. for Social
INSTITUTION
Research.
REPORT NO
ISBN-1-55014-236-4
PUB DATE
94
25p.; For a related document, see HE 029 903.
NOTE
Reports
PUB TYPE
Research/Technical (143)
EDRS PRICE
MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage.
Affirmative Action; *College Students; *Ethnic
DESCRIPTORS
Status; Focus Groups; Foreign Countries; Higher
Education; *Minority Groups; Public Policy; *Racial
Attitudes; *Racial Identification; Student Surveys
Canada; *Chinese Canadians; Visible Minority
IDENTIFIERS
(Canada); York University ON
ABSTRACT
A survey and focus group study with students of
Chinese origin at York University in Ontario (Canada) examined their
attitudes toward the concept of "visible minority." Surveys of
students conducted in 1992-94, as well as three focus group sessions
conducted with 26 students of Chinese origin, have indicated that
large numbers of students who spoke Chinese in their homes while
growing up did not consider themselves members of a visible minority
group. Focus group results indicated that many Chinese origin
students did not rely exclusively on physiological characteristics
such as color to ascribe visible minority status. Accent, perceiye,d
power of the group in question, numbers in the population,
self-presentation, and cultural assertiveness were all seen as
relevant criteria. Many students regarded visible minority as a
derogatory term, and some opposed affirmative action programs because
of fear of backlash, aversion to reverse discrimination, belief in
merit as a basis for hiring, and ethnic pride. Overall, the results
suggest that to a large number of Chinese origin students the term
visible minority has a different meaning than the one researchers and
policymakers assume. (MDM)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
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F.T1
ci,q
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF 'VISIBLE MINORITY'
FOR STUDENTS OF CHINESE ORIGIN
J. PAUL GRAYSON
WITH TAMMY CHI AND DARLA RHYNE
_
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC/
lki4his
document has been reproduced as
received from the person Of organization
originating it.
Minor changes have been made to improve
reproduction quality
Points of view or opinions stated in this dOCu-
do not necessarily represent official
OE RI position or policy
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Institute for Social
Research, York Univ
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
The Social Construction of Visible Minority'
for Students of Chinese Origin
J. Paul Grayson with Tammy Chi and Dada Rhyne
3
J. Paul Grayson, 1994
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Institute for Social Research
Published by:
York University
ISBN: 1-55014-236-4
Institute for Social Research
Founded in 1965, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is an Organized
Research Unit of York University. The Institute's purpose is to promote,
provides
undertake and critically evaluate applied social research. The Institute
consultation and support services to York faculty, students and staff conducting
research in the social sciences, and, to a lesser extent, in the biological and
agencies,
physical sciences. For researchers from other universities, government
public organizations and the private sector, the Institute provides consultation on
research design and undertakes data collection, data processing and statistical
analysis, on a fee-for-service basis.
ISR houses the largest university-based survey research unit in Canada,
annually conducting twenty to thirty research projects ranging from small surveys
Institute
in one locale to provincial and national surveys. The capabilities of the
include questionnaire and sample design, sample selection, data collection,
preparation of machine-readable data files, statistical analysis and report writing.
ISR's Statistical Consulting Service provides consultation on research
design and statistical analysis. The Service also sponsors short courses on
The
statistical analysis, research methodology and the use of statistical software.
and
consulting service is partially supported by a grant from the Natural Science
Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
ISR's data archive provides public access to survey data collected by the
such
Institute, to data sets from major Canadian surveys, and to official statistics,
public-use microdata files from the Canadian Census.
as the census aggregate and
For more information, write to:
Institute for Social Research
York University
4700 Kee le Street
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Telephone: [phone]; Fax [phone]
ii
Foreword
four types of articles in its publication
The Institute for Social Research produces
series:
Working papers;
aspects of the research
Reports on various technical and managerial
technical support staff and research managers;
process designed for
non-specialist readers; and,
Reports on topics of general interest to
substantive issues aimed at
Reports on various methodological and
experts in the field.
non-specialist readers.
The following is a report of general interest to
Acknowledgements
contributed to various phases of the research
A number of individuals at the ISR
like to
is based. In no particular order we would
on which the following report
Greg Hanson, and Anne Oram. We would
thank: David Northrup, John Tibert,
assistance with name generation and Linda
also like to thank Bill Bruce for his
early draft of the report.
Grayson for helpful comments made on an
iii
6
Summary
of Metropolitan Toronto has
In recent years, the non-white population
these, the
As a result of changing demographics such as
grown considerably.
adopted measures intended to remove
federal and provincial governments have
for 'visible minorities' in a number areas such as
any systemic barriers
employment.
the term 'visible
Researchers and policy makers tend to assume that
others, all non-whites;
minority' is easily understood as one that applies to, among
University indicate that large
however, a number of surveys conducted at York
homes while growing up do not
numbers of students who spoke Chinese in their
minority group. In addition, those who
consider themselves members of a visible
tend to have few friends who are visible
do not self-identify as visible minorities
do consider themselves visible
minorities. By way of contrast, students who
minority friends.
minorities have large numbers of visible
determine why certain students
In focus group meetings that were held to
members of visible minority groups a
of Chinese origin do not consider themselves
brought to light. First, in
considerable amount of important information was
Chinese origin students do not rely
ascribing visible minority status, many
such as colour. Accent, perceived
exclusively on physiological characteristics
self-presentation, and
in question, numbers in the population,
power of the group
criteria. Second, students of
cultural assertiveness were all seen as relevant
determining whether or not they
Chinese origin used the same yardsticks when
regarded visible
visible minority group. Third, many students
were members of a
students opposed affirmative action
minority as a derogatory term. Fourth, some
discrimination;
of backlash and aversion to reverse
programs because of: fear
self-esteem and/or ethnic pride; and because of
belief in merit as a basis for hiring;
Overall, the results of the research
feared negative organizational consequences.
Chinese origin students the term 'visible
suggest that to large numbers of
researchers and policy makers
minority' has a different meaning than the one
assume.
the meaning of 'visible
Efforts are currently under way to determine
Independent of the outcome of such
minority' for black and white students.
Chinese origin students suggest that the
research, the findings from the study of
term should be used with caution.
iv
7
Introduction
In recent years the number of non-white immigrants and refugees to
Toronto has grown substantially. For example, in 1986, 17% of the population of
the metropolitan area was classified as 'visible minority; by 1991 the figure was
approximately 25%. By 1996 and 2001 the numbers of visible minorities who will
of
reside in the Toronto area will make up an estimated 35% and 45% respectively
the total population (Samuel, 1992:34-35). Among visible minorities individuals of
Chinese origin are likely to remain the largest single group.
In view of these changing demographics, it is not surprising that the term
'visible minority' has come into wide-spread use. For example, as shown in Graph
1, the number of Globe and Mail articles in which the term was used grew from
approximately 20 in 1978 to 120 in 1993. While the number of page one stories
mentioning visible minorities has increased from zero in 1985 to approximately 20
in 1993, the increase has been less spectacular than for total articles.
Changing immigration and refugee patterns have resulted in provincial and
federal government initiatives to promote a variety of equity measures (Abe lla,
1984). In Ontario, for example, the NDP government supports equity legislation
that would have far
reaching implications for
new hirings, particularly
in the public sector. At
the federal level, in 1986,
Graph 1: Globe and Mail Articles Mentioning Visible Minority
Bill C62, an Act
Respecting Employment
Equity, was passed by
160
the House of Commons.
140
Its objective was "to
achieve equality in the
120
workplace so that no
100
person shall be denied
80
employment
so
opportunities or benefits
40
for reasons unrelated to
20
.4.0eNsiarseriairosumagorilffiffle2a4
ability" (quoted in
0
Boxhill, nd:1). More
%
7qP 7q)
7%. %
1:96) 7q9 7q9
74?9
specifically, the Act is
Total Articles Front Page
designed to deal with
systemic barriers that
may be encountered by
women, aboriginal
peoples, persons with
1
LE
AVAIP
COPY
BEST
visible minority
disabilities, and individuals who in terms of colour or race are
members.
wishing
The Act requires that some federally regulated employers and those
implement employment equity
to conduct business with the federal government
Parliament on their results (Boxhill, nd:2).
measures and annually report to
census' has been a
Given this requirement, it is not surprising that the 'internal
of an
frequently used means of acquiring information on the composition
ask
organization's workforce. In such censuses, it is common practice to
visible minority
individuals whether or not they consider themselves members of a
group.
phenomena
The difficulty with this approach is that it ignores the fact that
they do
such as race, ethnicity, colour, and visible minority are social constructs -
the researcher may have a
not exist in some 'objective' sense. As a result, while
minority, the
clear idea of what he or she means by, for example, visible
individuals being studied may have a different idea. The general process
of ethnicity
operative here has been identified by Figueroa in a discussion
(1991:55-56).
identifying,
Any 'in-group' identification at least implicitly involves the
categorizing and defining of an 'out-group' even if only an undifferentiated
necessarily tally with the way
one. But this other-identification does not
refer to them
those others identify themselves. When we look at others and
involved in an interpretive process
as this or that 'ethnic group', we are
which does not necessarily respond to the 'objective facts' nor to the
interpretive process of those others.
minority'.' Those
What Figueroa says of ethnicity applies equally to 'visible
for whatever reason, may not regard themselves
we classify as visible minorities,
result, if we pursue a line of inquiry that invites
as visible minorities. As a
which covers
There is an extensive literature on 'minority groups' and 'ethnic groups'
integration;
such issues as minority-majority social process and interaction patterns;
The literature
assimilation; acculturation; cultural retention; identity; and marginalization.
is applied, however,
dealing with the meaning of 'visible minority' for those to whom the term
key word search in York line, a record of York
appears to be small and limited in scope. A
examination of Sociofile,
University's library holdings, produced only 16 references. A brief
from sociological journals, produced fewer than ten items in
a listing of abstracts of articles
policy and
the category 'visible minority'. Many of these references deal with government
definition of
implementation of equity measures concerning visible minorities. In these, the
visible minority appears to be taken for granted.
2
9
do not know if researchers and
individuals to self-identify as visible minorities, we
those under study are using the term in the same way.
such as these,
On some occasions, in an effort to side-step problems
of your race or colour,
researchers may ask questions such as: "Are you, by virtue
Unfortunately, if the
in a visible minority in Canada?" (Boxhill, nd:94).
derogatory term
respondent were, for example, to regard 'visible minority' as a
independent
there may be a reluctance to link colour with visible minority status,
while the
of the intent of the researcher asking the question. In essence,
still not self-
individual may think of him/herself as non-white, he or she may
be borne in mind
identify as a visible minority. Possibilities such as these should
when carrying out
when conducting mail or phone censuses of organizations or
surveys of any kind.
information will be
In the following pages, in verification of the foregoing,
substantial percentage of
presented from a number of surveys indicating that a
members of a visible
individuals of Chinese origin do not regard themselves as
students of Chinese
minority group. Moreover, it will be shown that for many
white. In making
origin visible minorities include individuals usually viewed as
is used in
these points light will be shed on how the term visible minority
and why the term is
everyday conceptualizations of students of Chinese origin
problematic for researchers.
The Surveys
of student
In 1992 the Institute for Social Research embarked on a program
1992, to date, surveys have
studies at York University. Starting in September
1992), Arts (August
been carried out of students entering Science (September
August 1993).
1993), and Atkinson (the evening operation of York University,
November 1992, March
Follow-up surveys of Science students were conducted in
Atkinson students
1993, and March 1994. Similar follow-up surveys of Arts and
1994. For each survey focus groups were conducted at
were carried out in March
times that corresponded to the surveys.
of the
The intent of the studies was to determine a number of outcomes
might be
university experience at York and to identify the conditions that
by pure chance
conducive to the realization of such outcomes. As a result it was
in which
that in the first survey of students in Science a crosstabulation was run
speak at home
language spoken in the home ("What language did you usually
self-identification
while you were growing up?") was related to visible minority
group?). When
("Do you consider yourself to be a member of a visible minority
Graph 2, only 10 out of 33
this was done, as can be seen in the first column of
3
10