Asian American Identities: Racial and Ethnic Identity Issues in ...

The use of panethnic as an ascribed versus prescribed identity must also be confronted in the psychological literature. In essence, the only distinction between the terms (race and panethnicity) is their name, not the inherent meaning of the terms themselves. Therefore, it is argued in the present work that using the term race or racial identity does not imply that one endorses the biological conception of race, rather it reflects an understanding of the relevance of race in the lives of racial/ethnic minority individuals who reside in the United States. Similarly, ethnicity represents one’s categorization as a member of an ethnic-specific group, and ethnic-specific identity has been known to be context and time-dependent. This does not mean that this identity does not have meaning and social consequences for individuals who belong to these groups.

Therefore, we distinguish between a racial identity—how individuals think about themselves with regard to how they feel about membership within a particular race or racial group—and an ethnic-specific identity—how one thinks about herself/himself with regard to the culture of one’s ancestors, as modified by the demands of the culture or context in which one’s group currently resides. These identities are distinct and may have drastically different meanings for some individuals of Asian descent, whereas for others they may be identical. And yet another set of individuals may only identify with a racial identity, or an ethnic-specific identity based on their social experiences, and how they feel that others view them and their place or position within a particular group.

To understand how differences among Asian ethnic-specific groups may influence how they might identify with a racial and ethnic-specific identity, the following sections discuss the diversity of the Asian American population and how social status may influence how a variety of groups identify themselves. We then review the identity literature on Asian American populations and the racial/ethnic-specific identity literature in general to provide some background for the theoretical model introduced in the current study, the Asian American Identity Model (AAIM).