Model, victim, or problem minority? Examining the socially constructed identities of Asian-Origin ethnic groups in California's media

Social constructions are values and meanings attached to groups, and within the sphere of public policy, they are often ascribed to racial groups as a method of categorizing certain groups as "deserving" of policy benefits and others as "undeserving." Much of the rhetoric within debates over affirmative action policy evoke the image of Asian Americans as "model minorities" and emphasize the negative impact the policy has on Asian Americans, one of several racial minority groups it was designed to protect. This study documents and evaluates how the media's construction of Asian Americans as a model minority has evolved throughout the development of affirmative action policy. In addition to tracking the evolution of the model minority construction, this study examines alternate constructions of Asian Americans such as the "victim minority" image (victims of discrimination, social problems, and hate crimes) and the "problem minority" image (participants in crime and resistors of assimilation). Through a content analysis of articles covering Asian Americans in two major California newspapers (Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle), this study systematically examines how the construction of Asian Americans as a model, victim, or problem minority has either changed or remained stable throughout the last half-century and concludes with a discussion on potential implications for public policy, multiracial coalition building, and the future of the Asian American community.