Unlinking Linked Fate: The Push and Pull Factors of Racial Group Consciousness

• In Event: Asian American Political Behavior: Diverse Communities and Methodologies

Abstract

Has the pandemic-driven increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination heightened racial identity and a sense of linked fate among Asian Americans? Previous studies have focused on the marginalized status of "Asian Americans" as a pan-ethnic group and its impact on racial group consciousness. We argue that the literature has overlooked the significant roles of geopolitics (i.e., the China threat) and political representation in shaping perceptions of shared racial status among this immigrant-based population. Based on a survey experiment conducted on a representative sample of 2,000 Asian Americans, we confirmed chilling and conditional boosting effects. Priming anti-Asian hate crimes increased respondents' sense of racial linked fate. However, this treatment effect became null when the hate crime and China threat stimuli were combined. Combining hate threat and political representation stimuli did increase the same measure among non-Chinese participants but not among Chinese participants. These findings suggest that scholars should focus on what binds a group together and what breaks them apart simultaneously.

Authors

• Joan E. Cho, Wesleyan University

• D.G. Kim, Harvard University

• Taeku Lee, Harvard University

• Jae Yeon Kim, Johns Hopkins University