Zhang 1

Hongyuan Zhang

ESL 33B

Dr. Carlisi

30 May 2017

Thesis Statement:

Discrimination and stereotyping influence Chinese immigrants in their career life by

limiting their work opportunities along with causing difficulties in interacting with

workers from other races.

Detailed Outline

I. Introduction

A. Racial discrimination in work is a serious issue which involves a large amount of

population.

1. 31,027 charges about discrimination based on races in workplace were

reported in 2015, which took up 34.7% of total workplace discrimination cases

in 2015, making it the second largest factor of discrimination in workplace in

the United States (EEOC).

2. Chinese immigrants take up a huge number of potential victims of

discriminative conduct due to its being the second largest immigrant group

in the United States with an approximate population of 2.7 million (Lpez

and Radford).

B. Discrimination in jobs should be identified for its grave consequences on both

individuals and organizations.

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1. Victims of the races based discrimination in work place suffer from health

issues (Shih 146).

a. Employee experiences discrimination hold a higher likelihood to have

physical health problems (Shih 146).

b. Employees among minority groups which are discriminated show a

higher rate of depression (Shih 146).

2. Not being able to identify and address discriminations result in low

productivity in organizations along with vulnerability to law enforcements

(Shih 147).

a. In the year of 2015, a total loss over $525 million was caused due to

discrimination in private, state and local government, and federal

workplaces (EEOC).

b. There is a higher chance for employees to be absent and withdraw

from work under a discriminative working environment (Shih 147).

Thesis statement: Discrimination and stereotyping influence Chinese immigrants in

their career life by limiting their work opportunities along with causing difficulties in

interacting with workers from other races.

II. Discrimination and stereotypes lead to limitation on the number of work

opportunities.

A. Chinese immigrants face limitations on their fields of work due to the ethnic

stereotype and discrimination other races hold against them (Leong and Tang 266).

1. Career options are narrowed to Science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics (STEM) disciplines for many Chinese immigrants due to

their being stereotyped to be good at these fields, which tend to make

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Chinese immigrants indecisive when choosing jobs. (Leong and Tang

266).

2. Chinese immigrants who decide to settle in China town or other community

with a large Chinese population due to their fear of being discriminate by other

ethnic groups have difficulties achieving adequate and accurate information to

determine their field of work (Leong and Tang 264).

B. Stereotypes and discrimination make it less likely for Chinese immigrants to

have leadership positions.

1. Chinese immigrants are stereotyped to be lacking the social poise,

assertiveness, and leadership skills necessary to be manager (Leong and

Tang 267).

2. When Chinese immigrants are assertive and dominant, which is

necessary for leadership positions, they tend to be evaluated negatively for not

confirming their stereotypes (Johnson and Thomas 4).

III. Discrimination and stereotypes bring difficulties to Chinese immigrants in

interacting with workers from other races

A. Chinese immigrants receive less attention in workplace due to stereotypes

1. Chinese immigrant workers are likely to be neglect by their supervisor and

segregated from their co-workers because of their subjective conception of

Chinese immigrants that Chinese immigrants are different (Leong and

Tang 266).

2. People who hold stereotype against Asian immigrants show less desire of

communicating with Asians (Johnson and Thomas 3).

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B. The stereotype of being the model minority cause envy and hostility against

Chinese immigrants by other races.

1. Many White people who hold prejudice towards Asians consider Asians to

be aggressive in competitions and have insatiable appetite for social power,

and the successes of Asian Americans are taken as economic and social

threats to other groups (Leong and Mak 47).

2. Vincent Chin case: One Chinese immigrant named Vincent was

murdered in 1982 by two autoworkers in Detroit for they believed

that he was one of the Japanese that were taking away the market

from American automobile industry and bringing difficulties to the

economy (Leong and Tang 266).

IV. Several possible solutions can minimize the barriers of interracial relationship and

cultural differences.

A. Methods to minimize the limitation of discrimination and stereotype on career

opportunities.

1. Integrating community and personal resources can help Chinese

immigrants go beyond the restriction of stereotypes.

a. For Chinese immigrants who have certain career background,

integrating their experiences and skills into new environment can

provide them with better chances to obtain satisfying jobs (Leong and

Mei 268).

b. For Chinese immigrants graduating from colleges and universities,

official-lead assisting program could help exploiting students own

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talent rather than following stereotypes in job seeking (Leong and Mei

268).

2. Ethnic economy can help Chinese immigrants to explore career

opportunities by easing the fear of being discriminated

a. Encourage Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who tend to provide

unique opportunities to other Chinese immigrants who suffer from

discrimination (Shin and Zai 143).

B. Individual and organizational methods can help overcome obstacles in

interaction with other ethnic groups in workplace.

1. Identity management can help protect individuals from hostility.

a. Using identity switching and identity redefinition techniques could

reduce stereotype based hostility against Chinese immigrants in their

workplace (Shih 149).

2. Systematic interference by organizations can loosen the tension between

Chinese immigrant employees and workers from other races.

a. Improving multicultural awareness among employees along with

policies om racial diversity could lead to a better intercultural

communication mechanism within organizations (Leong and Mei 268).

V. Conclusion

Race-based discrimination in work, which is a critical issue due to its serious

impact on both individuals and organizations, do harm to Chinese immigrants by

limiting their career opportunities along with putting obstacles in their interaction

with workers with different ethnicities. Multiple ways on either social or

individual level can be used to help protect Chinese immigrants from such

discriminations.
 Zhang 6

Hongyuan Zhang

ESL 33B

Dr. Carlisi

14 June 2017

The impact of stereotypes and discriminations on Chinese immigrant in their career

life

Despite years of effort to dilute and eliminate discrimination between races,

racial discrimination in work remains as one of the most serious issues that involves a

huge amount of the population in the United States. According to a governmental

report from EEOC, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 31,027 racial

discrimination charges in the workplace were reported in 2015, which took up over

one-third of the total number of workplace discriminations. Races-based

discrimination in work also lead to grave consequences on both individual level and

organizational level. Employee who suffer from discrimination show a higher rate of

having both physical and physiological health problems. (Shih 146) Failure of

identifying and addressing discrimination also result in low productivity in

organizations. Shihs paper pointed out that employees of an organization with racial

discrimination exists tend to have a greater chance to be absent and withdraw from

work. Discrimination in organizations can also cause severe financial losses. In the

year of 2015, a total loss over $525 million from lawsuits was caused due to

discriminations in private, state and local government, and federal workplaces (EEOC

Issues Fiscal Year 2015 Performance Report). Racial discrimination in career which

involves a massive number of victims, along with its serious outcomes, making it an
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important issue for from all kinds of ethnicity. With an astonishing population of 2.7

million, Chinese immigrants are now considered to be the second largest ethnic group

in the united states (American community survey 2015). At the meantime, such a huge

population also leads to a huge number of potential victims of discriminative actions

in career. Thus, it is very important to identify the influence of racial discrimination on

their career lives. During the attempt to identify discrimination towards Chinese

immigrants, a conclusion is reached that races-based discrimination harms Chinese

immigrants in mainly two ways: limiting their job opportunities and making it difficult

for them to interact with co-workers from other races.

One of the biggest impact that discrimination and stereotypes have on Chinese

immigrants in the workplace is the limitations on their work opportunities. The first

way in which limitations are brought is narrowing the field of works available.

According to Frederik T. L. Leong and Mei Tang, Chinese immigrants are facing

limitations on their field of work due to the ethnic stereotype and discrimination other

races hold against Chinese and Asian (Leong and Mei 266). For many Chinese

immigrants, finding a job in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM)

disciplines seems to be the only options they have. This is mainly because they are

stereotyped to be good at these field. Such a stereotype causes a tendency of being

indecisive for Chinese immigrants who are looking for job. Discrimination also limits

the available career opportunity for many Chinese immigrants. For the fear of

receiving discrimination from other ethnic groups, many Chinese immigrants tend to

settle in communities with a large Chinese population such as the China town, in

which they are isolated from the rest of the society. Such a segregation from the main

stream society significantly reduce the chance of achieving adequate and accurate
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information, which is supposed to be one of the biggest factors in decision-making

when choosing career (Leong and Tang 264).

Another way in which stereotypes and discrimination affect career opportunities

is that they significantly reduce the chance for Chinese immigrants to be promoted to

leadership, decision-making positions. Despite their enviable achievement in career,

Asians are having less likelihood to enter the the highest paying major occupational

category (BLS), which refers to management, professional and related occupations.

According to one report from BLS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic, while 61% of Asian

immigrants have bachelors degree or higher, only 51% of Asian immigrants obtain

jobs in management, professional and related fields. (see fig.1 and fig.2 ) In another

word, Asian employees have approximately 20% less chance to obtain jobs in these cat-

egory than their counterparts from other races who are having a similar educational

degree.
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Fig.1. Educational attainment of the labor force age 25 and older by race and Hispanic or Latino ethnic-
ity, 2015 annual averages; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic; BLS.gov, September 2016.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2015/home.htm - chart2

Fig.2. Employed people by occupation, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2015 annual averages;
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic; BLS.gov, September 2016.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2015/home.htm - chart2

A major reason for such a gap is their identity of being Asian. According to a re-

search conducted by PEW Research Center, 15% of Asian Americans, find their iden-

tity hurts more than helps when looking for a promotion (see fig.3).

Fig.3. Getting Ahead.; PEW Research Center, pewresearch.org, 18 June 2012.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-graphics/st_12-06-17_aa_difference/
 Zhang 10

Stereotype and discrimination are responsible for such a phenomenon. Asians,

including Chinese immigrants, are usually stereotyped to be lacking social poise, as-

sertiveness, and leadership skills necessary to be manager (Leong and Tang 267).

When individual Chinese immigrant is assertive and dominant, he/she tend to be

evaluated negatively for not confirming their stereotypes (Johnson and Tomas 4),

which reduce his/her chance of getting leadership positions.

Besides limiting their career opportunities, discrimination and stereotype also

bring barriers to Chinese immigrant in their interaction with their co-workers from

other races This includes receiving less attention in the workplace. According to Fred-

erick T. L. Leong, Chinese immigrant workers are likely to be neglected by their super-

visor and segregated from their co-workers because of the stereotype that Chinese im-

migrant are different. This is confirmed by Stefanie K. Johnson and Thomas Sy in an

article published on Harvard Business Review, in which they state that people who

hold stereotype against Asian immigrant show less desire of communicating with

Asians.

In contrast, Chinese immigrant workers receive more envy and hostility because

of the stereotype. Many White people who hold prejudice toward Asian consider

Asians to be aggressive in competition and have insatiable appetite for social power,

and the success of Asian Americans are taken as economic and social threat to other

groups (Leong and Mak 47). Such an idea that Asian Americans are threat to other

groups cause verbal and even physical abuse when Chinese immigrant workers inter-

act with workers from other races. A famous example of this is the murder of Vincent

Chin. This Chinese immigrant named Vincent Chin was brutally killed by two auto-

workers with a baseball bat during a fight in Detroit. The fight started simply because

the two autoworkers believed Vincent to be one of the Japanese, who were taking
 Zhang 11

away the market from American automobile industry and bring difficulties to the

economy.

Considering the enormous number of Chinese immigrants in the United States,

methods to minimize the damage brought by discrimination and stereotype are in ur-

gent need. With further research, strategies on both individual and social scale are dis-

covered to help Chinese immigrant to overcome these barriers.

Integrating personal and community resources can be a useful way for individ-

ual Chinese immigrant to break the restriction of stereotype when seeking career op-

portunities. For Chinese immigrants who are graduating from colleges and universi-

ties, official-lead assisting program could help exploring students own talent. This

would give Chinese immigrant students more control in job seeking rather than fol-

lowing stereotypes. As to the ones who have certain career background, integrating

their experiences and skills into the new environment can provide them with better

chances to obtain satisfying job (Leong and Mei 268). Supporting ethnic economy and

encouraging Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs is another method to reduce the nega-

tive effect of stereotype and discrimination which could be effective on a bigger scale.

According to a paper from International Organization for Migration written by Hy-

oung-jin Shin and Zai Liang, ethic entrepreneurs have the tendency to offer unique

opportunities to immigrants who suffer from discrimination.

To reach a beneficial interaction between Chinese immigrant and other ethnic

groups in the workplace, systematic interferences by companies and organizations are

essential. Building multicultural awareness among employees along with improving

policies on racial diversity could lead to a better interracial communication mechanism

within companies and organizations, which can loosen the tension between Chinese
 Zhang 12

immigrant employees and their co-workers with other ethnicities. In addition to organ-

ization-lead rectification, individual Chinese immigrant workers can also defend them-

selves from discrimination and stereotype by managing their identities. Identity

Switching and Identity Redefinition turn out to be two useful method to protect mi-

nority workers from stereotype and stereotype-based hostility.

As a conclusion, race-based discrimination in the workplace, which is a critical

issue due to its serious impact on both individuals and organizations, do harm to Chi-

nese immigrants by limiting their career opportunities along with putting obstacles in

their interaction with workers with different ethnicities. Multiple ways on either social

or individual level can be used to help protect Chinese immigrants from the negative

effects of this kind of discrimination.

 Zhang 13

Works Cited

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity,

2015. BLS REPORTS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sept. 2016, www.bls.

gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2015/home.htm. Accessed 30 May 201

7.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Issues Fiscal Year 2015 Pe

rformance Report. EEOC Press Releases, U.S. Equal Employment Opport

unity Commission, 11 Feb. 2016, www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2

-11-16.cfm. Accessed 16 May 2017.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Releases Fiscal Year 2015

Enforcement and Litigation Data. EEOC Press Releases, EEOC, 11 Feb. 2

016, www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2-11-16.cfm. Accessed 18 May

2017.

Johnson, Stefanie K. and Thomas Sy. "Why Aren't There More Asian America

ns in Leadership Positions?." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 1

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Leong, Frederick T. L., and Mei Tang. Career Barriers for Chinese Immigrant

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