high-tech coolies: asian immigrants in the us …ucessjb/varma 2002.pdfscience as culture, volume...

Science as Culture Volume 11 Number 3 2002

HIGH-TECH COOLIES AsianImmigrants in the US Science andEngineering Workforce

ROLI VARMA

Generally the in uence of cultural differences in organizations isoverlooked (Alder 1997) This is especially true in science andengineering (SampE) organizations In the dominant ideology modernscienti c knowledge is produced according to rational universalnorms Further modern science is understood as universal the lawsof gravity the chemical composition of molecules or the structure ofDNA is viewed in the same way in every country If social or culturalfactors enter scienti c discourse therefore they are viewed as cre-ating bias

In that ideological context Asian immigrants in the US arepresumed to receive treatment similar to their American counter-parts in SampE activities The evaluation of performance and distri-bution of rewards to Asian immigrants in SampE is believed to beindependent of their race gender cultural beliefs and birthplaceThus the career attainment of Asian immigrant scientists and engi-neers should not be signi cantly different from those of comparablewhites

Asian immigrants in the US however do not have similarchances of being promoted and getting ahead in the SampE organiza-tions Despite good records of achievement they do not reach a levelin which they participate in policy and decision-making responsibili-ties They are seldom a part of the management team in privatecompanies government agencies and institutions of higher edu-cation despite being represented very highly as professionals Asformer Commissioner Joy Cherian of the Equal Employment Oppor-tunity Commission (EEOC) has summed up

Virtually across the board in private employment in employ-

Address correspondence to Roli Varma School of Public Administration University of New MexicoAlbuquerque NM 87131-1216 USA tel (505) 277-7756 E-mail varmaunmedu

0950-5431 print1470-1189 online02030337ndash25 Oacute 2002 Process PressDOI 1010800950543022000005078

SCIENCE AS CULTURE338

ment with state local and federal government agencies inemployment with public and private institutions of highereducation Asian Americans enjoy the distinction of beingrepresented very highly as professionals But for some strangereason the same data shows that when it comes to being partof the management team those same professionalsmdasha cate-gory of workers from whom most managers comemdashdo adisappearing act hellip In public employment at all levels ofgovernment Asian Americans are employed as of cials andadministrators at the rate of only one-third of their representa-tion in professional jobs with the same employers hellip When itcomes to employment in the ranks of executives administra-tors and managers at our private and public institutions ofhigher learningmdashcolleges and universitiesmdashthe situationseems to be worse for Asian Americans than in any otheremployment sector Here Asian American managers are onlyone-fourth of their participation in professional and facultypositions (Woo 2000 p 60)

How should those statistics be interpreted This article arguesthat Asian immigrants play a role of lsquohigh-tech cooliersquo in SampEorganizations They are permitted to work mainly in those SampE rolesthat are non-competitive with white males Such occupations grantAsian immigrants a higher social and economic status compared withother minorities Yet Asian immigrants face structural barriers incareer mobility into positions of authority and power The generalculture in SampE organizations views them as foreigners and holdsback their careers

The article begins by providing a brief background of migrationand a selected description of Asian immigrants which has led totheir portrayal as a lsquomodelrsquo for other minorities in America Thenthe article questions that concept of lsquothe model minorityrsquo by outlin-ing the lsquosilicon ceilingrsquo which impedes upward career mobility forAsian immigrants in SampE organizations It is followed by a dis-cussion on theoretical perspectives which explore diagnoses orcauses of the silicon ceiling Finally the article summarizes theargument that Asian immigrants serve the role of high-tech coolie inSampE organizations

HIGH-TECH COOLIES 339

j FROM BROWN HORDES TO MODEL MINORITY

h Pulling skills from AsiaPrior to 1965 most immigrants in the US were from northern andwestern European countries with the exception of immigrants fromMexico (Borjas 1990) Early American immigration policy wasbased on the exclusion of lsquoundesirablesrsquo who were de ned primarilyby country of origin (Cafferty et al 1984) As a result immigrationfrom most of Asia was banned The US Immigration Act of 1965scrapped the national origins quota system and placed Asian nationson an equal basis with other countries Under the new law immi-grants were subject to a numerical limit (270000 worldwide and20000 per country per year) These changes in immigration policycoincided with the introduction of the Sputnik programme thegrowth of a new generation of high technology industries the highdemand for technical labour and a shortage of skilled workers in theUS The justi cation for US immigration shifted from skin to skillquali cations

The 1990 Immigration Act further intensi ed the preferencesystem for legal immigrants in accordance with job skills by introduc-ing temporary work or H-1B visas The Act placed a limit of 65000per year on the number of foreign skilled workers entering on H-1Bvisas In 1998 at the request of high technology companies in thesemiconductors software and Internet elds Congress passed a billto increase the H-1B visas to 115000 for 1999 and 2000 TheAmerican Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000 furtherincreased the limit to 195000 for each of the next three years Byestablishing one class of immigration based solely on skill the UShas created a powerful lsquopullrsquo factor for Asian scientists and engineersthe entry of potential unskilled Asians without relatives in the US isrestricted

Most Asians have been coming to the US to obtain or nish theirgraduate education in SampE leading to work and then a permanentstay (Finn 1999) The 1992 Chinese Student Protection Act madeit possible for Chinese students in the US to acquire permanentresident visas Some Asian scientists and engineers have been enter-ing the US directly to work through family sponsorship or on atemporary work permit visa which is later converted into a perma-nent visa


Credit httpwwwprojectusaorgaction-productshtmlt-shirts

h Labour-market controversyAs the number of immigrant workers has soared (12 of USworkers) many Americans are voicing anger about immigrationespecially if they have the type of job that competes with immigrantsIt is either argued that new immigrants take highly skilled jobs awayfrom American citizens (eg according to former Senator AlanSimpson) or that high technology companies lay off native workers tohire foreigners in order to maximize their pro ts (eg according toformer Labour Secretary Robert Reich) (Alarcon 1999) The main


trade-union federation the AFL-CIO blames high technology in-dustry for holding down its costs by hiring from abroad

Many have been calling for more immigration restrictions Forinstance ProjectUSA (2002) a non-pro t public advocacy grouphas been distributing anti-immigration posters with such slogans aslsquoAmerica is fullrsquo lsquoDemocracy cannot survive overpopulationrsquo andthe lsquoUS population is now growing at a faster rate than Chinarsquosrsquo In1997 the National Review magazine ran a cover depicting PresidentClinton with slanted-eyes and a coolie hat the First Lady withbucked teeth and communist garbed and Vice President Gore in aBuddhist monk-attire The headline said lsquoThe Manchurian Candi-datesrsquo (Lowry 1997)

Most allegations against Asian immigrants are made withoutlooking at their contributions to the US economy in lling shortagesof highly skilled workers Despite recruitment and education fund-ing the domestic supply of scientists and engineers remains inad-equate in the high technology industry (Finn 1991) Similarly SampEdepartments in universities are facing faculty shortages caused by adecline in the number of US citizens pursuing SampE doctoral degrees(Finn and Baker 1993) Even the increase of 195000 is not con-sidered enough to meet the growing high technology need of theeconomy According to the US Bureau of Labor (2000) the employ-ment opportunities for SampE jobs are expected to increase about 44between 1998 and 2008 (14 for the whole economy) Some studieshave found little evidence that American jobs are being lost in SampE(Friedburg and Hunt 1995 National Software Alliance 1998)

Moreover the US is facing some competition to attract andretain Asiarsquos best brains As economic and social conditions areimproving some Asian countries have been pouring in resources toexpand their SampE programmes and are emphasizing their hightechnology needs to attract scientists and engineers back home (Cao1996) Many Asian scientists and engineers in the US includingsome Nobel Prize winners have been attracted to their home coun-tryrsquos world-class teaching and research facilities up-to-date equip-ment high salaries and generous research funding As a result thestay rate for many Asian scientists and engineers holding doctoratesin the US has fallen in recent years In the last decade approximatelyhalf of the doctoral recipients from China and India have accepted


Credit Oacute 1997 by National Review Inc 215 Lexington Avenue NY NY 10016 Reprintedwith permission


employment in the US however the gures for Taiwan and SouthKorea were down to 28 and 23 respectively (Johnson 1998 p 4)

The increasing presence of Asian immigrants in SampE labourmarkets is a matter of necessity Yet the general feeling remains thatAsian immigrants take more from the country and the economy thanthey give back

h High educational and occupational statusThe failure to ll the SampE job shortage with indigenous workers hascreated career opportunities for Asian immigrants Generally immi-grants from non-European countries dominate low-paying jobs (eggarment workers meat packers gardeners hotel maids dishwashersand vegetable pickers) However a notable difference is the highconcentration of Asian immigrants in the SampE workforce Asianscomprise about 4 of the US population but over 10 of itsscientists and engineers eight out of 10 Asian scientists and engi-neers and nine out of 10 holding doctorates are foreign-born (Kang1999 p 56 National Science Foundation [NSF] 2000a p 312)By country in Asia 12 are from India 9 from China 6 fromthe Philippines 5 from Taiwan 4 from Korea 3 each fromVietnam and Japan and less than 1 from other Asian countries(NSF 2000a pp 326 A202) According to the US Immigrationand Naturalization Service almost half of all H-1B visas go to Indiafollowed by China (9) the Philippines Korea Taiwan and Japanaccount for 27 23 21 and 20 respectively

Educational achievements are lower for the foreign-born popu-lation compared with the US-born population but they are higherfor those from Asia For instance in 2000 the proportion who hadattained a bachelorrsquos degree was 449 for those from Asiamdashcom-pared with 256 for the US-born (Lollock 2001 pp 4ndash5) Mostimportantly the number of master and doctoral degrees earned byforeign-born Asians in SampE has increased far faster than thoseearned by US citizens For instance in 1997 15744 of the USdoctoral degrees in SampE were earned by US citizens and 11103 byforeign students half of which went to Asian students (5575) From1986 to 1997 Asian foreign students have earned 57358 doctoraldegrees in SampE whereas US citizens have earned 173088 for thesame period (NSF 2000a p A266) A large majority of doctoral


recipients from many Asian countries particularly China and Indiagenerally plan to stay in the US (Johnson 1998) Finn (1999) foundthat the majority of 1992ndash93 doctoral recipients in SampE from Chinaand India were still working in the US in 1997

Re ecting the higher levels of academic credentials Asian immi-grants are under-represented in elementary and secondary edu-cation but over-represented among college and university faculty In1997 Asian immigrants holding doctorates comprised over 12 ofSampE faculty in universities and four-year colleges (Kang 1999p 52) Since a higher percentage of Asian immigrants earn degreesin engineering and the private sector is the largest employer ofengineers they tend to be employed in the private sector rather thanin government (Federal state or local) This pattern even holds forthose holding doctorates For instance in 1997 21 of doctoralAsian immigrant scientists and engineers were employed in theprivate-for-pro t sector and only 107 in state and local govern-ment and 97 in Federal government (Kang 1999 p 52)

In contrast to the foreign-born populationmdashwhich is more likelyto live in poverty be unemployed and earn less than the US-bornpopulationmdasha lower percentage of foreign-born Asians suffer econ-omic problems For instance in 1997 the median income forforeign-born Asian households was $42900mdashthe highest income ofany foreign-born group and higher than the income for all foreign-born households ($30000) and US-born households ($36100)Similarly in 1997 foreign-born Asians were employed in managerialand professional specialty occupations (36) the percentage ofworkers in such occupations was 30 for US-born and 24 for allforeign-born workers (Berstein 2000 p 2) Foreign-born Asians areless likely to be employed in precision production craft repairfarming forestry and shing

h Changing imageDespite the history of a ban on Asian immigration until 1965restrictions on Asians from owning property early in the 20th cen-tury the internment of 120000 Japanese Americans during WorldWar II and racial prejudice Asian immigrants in the US haveachieved much A high level of educational and occupationalachievement has changed the image of Asian immigrants from


lsquoyellow and brown hordesrsquo to a lsquomodel minorityrsquo who have overcomeall sorts of barriers in American society (Rose 1985)

In recent years US television shows (eg CBSrsquos 60 Minutes andNBC Nightly News) popular magazines (eg Fortune News WeekTime and US News and World Reports) and newspapers (eg WallStreet Journal and Washington Post) have devoted special coverage tothe success of Asian immigrants in America The general thrust inthe media has been to convey the image of lsquorags-to-richesrsquo for Asianimmigrants in America A few Asian immigrants have been appear-ing on the Forbesrsquos billionaire list and some have founded hightechnology companies and are chief executive of cers (Forbes2001) Conservatives like Thomas Sowell and Dinesh DrsquoSouza havecontrasted the success of South Asians to the failures of Afro-Amer-icans In Silicon Valley the home of the Integrated Circuit IC alsostands for the Indian and Chinese whose brain-power built SiliconValley (Saxenian 1999)

j SILICON CEILINGThe recent image of a successful model minority however worksagainst Asian immigrants It conveys that they have won the battleagainst racial discrimination in employment It penalizes Asian im-migrants by assuming that they need no mentoring support orresources Their portrayal as an over-represented minority ignoresinequalities within and among Asian groups Not all Asian immi-grants have made it in America educational and occupationalachievements are lower for many Southeast Asians Most impor-tantly the model minority concept symbolically contrasts Asianimmigrants with Afro-Americans Hispanics and Native Americansif the former can succeed in America then why not the latterInstead of demanding government assistance to improve their econ-omic status minorities are told to embrace lsquoself-helprsquo practised byAsian immigrants in America

Furthermore aggregate economic data suggesting that Asianimmigrants have performed as well as whites and outperformed otherminorities in the US do not provide a complete picture First nearlyhalf of all foreign-born Asians are geographically concentrated inthree metro areas Los Angeles New York and San Francisco(Lollock 2001 p 1) In these areas both income and cost of living


are very high So if they earn more they also spend more Similarlyforeign-born Asians have large families (326 people) and thus morewage earners per family than whites (256 people) Asian immi-grantsrsquo labour participation rate is higher than the population as awhole (Berstein 2000 p 2) As a result the income comparisonswith whites and other minorities are somewhat inconclusive Thirddata on managers combine salaried managers in large organizationswith self-employed managers Since often most Asian immigrantmanagers are self-employed they do not enjoy employment opportu-nities bene ts and the security of managers in the corporate andpublic sectors

Proponents of the model minority thesis seldom examine howAsian immigrants fare in terms of upward mobility after they enterthe SampE profession Getting their foot into the door is not the sameas getting ahead in the SampE professions Even with high educationfor career advancement Asian immigrants in SampE organizations arefar from achieving social and economic parity The higher educa-tional attainment in highly paid SampE elds of Asian immigrants ispartially re ected in salaries and occupational status vis-a-vis theirwhite counterparts (Wong and Nagsawa 1991 Asian Americans forCommunity Involvement [AACI] 1993 Tang 1993 1997 2000Federal Glass Ceiling Commission 1995 Wu 1997 Woo 2000Varma 2001)

Asian immigrants generally are paid less than comparable whiteswith similar quali cations in SampE occupations For instance in1997 the median annual salaries of male doctoral scientists andengineers from Asia was $67000mdash$3000 lower than whites withsimilar quali cations though $4000 higher than Afro-AmericansFemale Asian immigrants with a doctorate earned a similar amountto white and Afro-American females ($53000) but lower than males(Kang 1999 p 81) This pattern also holds across most broadoccupations and age groups (Goyette and Xie 1999)

Data on occupational status shows that high-ranking administrat-ive positions in SampE for the public and private sectors vary byethnicity Although Asian immigrants account for a high percentageof the SampE workforce they are rarely administrators in supervisorypositions When Asian immigrant scientists and engineers do reachmanagerial positions it is after a longer length of time than similarlyquali ed whites Interestingly Asian immigrants are less likely to be


in managerial jobs than Afro-Americans and Hispanics (NSF2000ab)

In private industrymdasha sector preferred by Asian immigrant scien-tists and engineersmdashthey are less likely than whites to be engagedprimarily or secondarily in management Further the median num-ber of direct and indirect subordinates is lower for Asian immigrantscientists and engineers than for whites (NSF 2000b p 61) As anexample although 60 of Indians 57 of Chinese and 53 ofwhites are employed in professional and managerial occupations inSilicon Valley high-technology industries only 15 of Indians and16 of Chinese are managers compared to 26 of whites (Saxenian1999 Table 25)

In government national laboratories even fewer Asian scientistsand engineers compared with whites have management as theirprimary or secondary activity For instance at Livermore NationalLaboratory Asians make up about 4 of scientists but only about1 of them are in management (Locke 2000 p 3) Similarly at theLos Alamos National Laboratory out of 99 senior managers onlyone is of Asian descent and of 322 leaders of technical groups alower rank in management only three are Asians (Glanz 2000 pB5)

In academic institutionsmdashwhere Asian immigrants are over-rep-resented in SampEmdashvery few hold administrative positions (Philip-koski 2000) Among full-time ranked doctoral scientists andengineers in 1997 37 of Asians compared with 47 of whites werefull professors For the same period 37 of Asian doctoral scientistsand engineers in four-year colleges or universities compared with57 of whites were tenured (NSF 2000a p 437) Some of thesedifferences are related to variations in the number of years since thedoctorate was awarded Nonetheless it is rare to nd an Asiandepartment chair a dean or a provost in SampE in academic institu-tions (Watanabe 1995 Tang 2000)

Asian immigrants face what has been called the glass ceilingmdasharti cial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational biases thatprevent quali ed individuals from advancing upward in their organi-zations to management level positions The concept of glass ceilingwas initially used in the mid-1980s to depict womenrsquos blockedpromotions in corporate America The Federal Glass Ceiling Com-mission (1995 p 101) later applied the same concept to ethnic


minorities and found Asian Americans facing an lsquoimpenetrableglassrsquo

j WHY SO FEWHow to explain the disproportionately small representation of Asianimmigrants in positions of authority and decision-making Theliterature ranges from lsquoculturalrsquo to lsquostructuralrsquo explanations Theformer suggests the absence of requisite quali cations (eg languagede ciencies) or a lack of candidates (eg not seeking managerialpositions) while the latter suggests organizational characteristics(eg racial prejudice) impeding career advancement of Asian immi-grants in SampE organizations

h Eastern versus Western cultureCultural differences between Western and Asian countries have beenidenti ed in terms of modern and traditional values Several scholarshave identi ed many work-related dimensions on which Western andAsian cultures differ Most frequently cited characteristics withinWestern cultures are universalism individualism inner-directedorientation time as sequence achieved status and equality Incontrast characteristics within Asian cultures are particularismcollectivism outer-directed orientation time as synchronization as-cribed status and hierarchy (Hofstede 1984 Dumont 1986 Bedi1991 Redding and Baldwin 1991 Stewart and Bennett 1991Simons et al 1993 Trompenaars 1994 Alder 1997) Generallyscholars use this lsquotwo worldsrsquo theme to describe various disparateand contradictory aspects of new immigrants in the US

For instance Americans are viewed as desiring individual mo-bility to ful l the lsquoAmerican Dreamrsquo of individual accomplishmentsThey assume personal responsibility pay attention to the enhance-ment of each individualrsquos rights and focus on general rules Asianimmigrants on the other hand are viewed as relying more on thepriorities of a group or an organization than concern for themselvesFor Asian immigrants friendships with colleagues managers andothers take precedence over their own interests

Similarly the dominant ideology of American culture emphasizesequality Hierarchy emerges as the result of competition in whicheveryone starts from the same position and enjoys the same rules In


contrast the dominant ideology of Asian societies emphasizes hier-archy which is ascribed and xed Social ordering is not throughhorizontal bonds but through vertical allegiances to people holding ahigher rank on the basis of age gender status wealth or powerAccordingly Asian immigrants tend to observe the cultural traditionof deference to people above them They tend to work under oneanotherrsquos shadow

Such cultural values of Asian immigrants are viewed as a liabilityin the US organization of SampE Being brought up to be modesthonour wisdom work hard and let the work speak for itself Asianimmigrant scientists and engineers do not boast of their achieve-ments Their low-key self-effacing and team approach work againstthem in American SampE organizations which reward aggressive as-sertive and outspoken individuals Even when Asian immigrantscientists and engineers acknowledge their unfair treatments theystill avoid con ict with those in a higher position They remainpatient and hope that one day their time will come By not taking anactive part in the organizational dynamic Asian immigrant scientistsand engineers do not use the American system to work in theirfavour

Nonetheless such cultural explanations tend to reinforce popularstereotypes With a great variety of histories customs languages andreligions Asian immigrant scientists and engineers themselves arenot a homogeneous group Yet the same cultural categories areattributed to all those from Asia

Likewise national cultures tend to manifest contradictions Forinstance many Asian immigrant scientists and engineers are West-ernized because science in many parts of Asia is a sign of modernityMost of them are trained in American graduate schools and thus donot differ signi cantly from Americans in routine SampE activitiesAlthough Asian immigrants see cultural differences between Easternand Western cultures they do not like to be called minority Insteadthey consider themselves to be the equivalent of their white counter-parts (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission 1995 p 103)

Most importantly if Asian immigrants succeed in SampE due tocultural emphasis on education and hard work they are symbolicallyplaced against Afro-Americans and other minorities Likewise ifAsian immigrants fail to advance in SampE they themselves are toblame and should change their cultural values from collectivism to


individualism In other words Asian immigrant scientists and engi-neers should not make any demands for institutional assistanceProponents of cultural differences ignore institutional policies thatcreate obstacles for Asian immigrants in the SampE workforce andthus serve the status quo

h Poor language skillsThe silicon ceiling is often attributed to language dif culties offoreign-born Asian scientists and engineers For instance Christo-pher Daniel argues that differences in linguistic abilities and culturalbackgrounds between Asians and whites are better explanations ofthe disparities between the two rather than job discrimination (Lewisand Kim 1997) Generally Asian immigrant scientists and engineershave some language barriers since English is their second languageand they have an accent With limited English pro ciency it isdif cult to imagine Asian immigrants climbing to high-ranking ad-ministrative positions in SampE organizations

However not all Asian immigrants are recent immigrants or lackcommunication and linguistic abilities A signi cant number of Asianimmigrants moved to the US as children and thus speak with anAmerican accent Many have gone through English medium school-ing and training in their home country and thus are pro cient inEnglish The example of immigrants from India in SampE is instructivebecause they tend to have little language dif culties compared withthose from China Still the occupational status of Indian immigrantsin SampE organizations remains lower than whites with similarquali cations Further it is not clear why colloquial English with anAmerican accent should be a pre-requisite in promotion evaluations

The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) found thoseforeign-born whites with poor language skills and an accent do notface blocked mobility like Asians This suggests the existence ofracial barriers or the possibility that European scientists and engi-neers with English-language dif culties are treated differently thanare those who emigrated from Asia This is not to deny that Asianimmigrants may need to improve their English pro ciency in theireducational aspirations and for career advancement in SampE organiza-tions


h Technical over managerial positionsMany have argued that the relatively lower representation of Asianimmigrant scientists and engineers in managerial positions could bedue to their preference for technical positions over business ones(cited in Lewis and Kim 1997) If Asian immigrants have a lowtendency to enter managerial positions then SampE organizations endup facing the supply barrier

It is true that Asian immigrants pursue SampE much more thansocial sciences management law or public affairs For instance in1997 Asian immigrants represented 4 of social scientists but morethan 10 of scientists and engineers (Johnson 1998 pp 21ndash22)This is partially because Asian immigrants grew up in societies whereSampE was perceived to be associated with high monetary returns jobopportunities prestige and intelligence Also Asian foreign studentsin the US tend to pursue education in SampE and their stay rates arehigher in SampE elds and lower in the social sciences (Finn 1999)Nonetheless in most SampE organizations managers tend to be scien-tists or engineers by training before taking managerial responsibili-ties it is rare to nd social scientists lawyers or businessadministrators as managers in SampE organizations

However over-representation of Asian immigrants in the SampE elds cannot be taken to mean that they are only interested intechnical positions and not in managerial positions Since hierarchyis highly valued in Asian countries and management positions areassociated with status and prestige many Asian immigrant scientistsand engineers desire to hold managerial rank but are not optimisticabout their chances to be promoted (Wong and Nagsawa 1991AACI 1993) If they feel their higher education and high jobperformance rates will not lead them to senior management posi-tions they are unlikely to apply for such positions A case study ofChinese and Indians in Silicon Valley found that they believed theiradvancement to managerial positions was limited by race (Saxenian1999) The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) found AsianAmericans frustrated at their inability to access senior decision-mak-ing positions

h Stereotypes and prejudiceDifferences in cultural backgrounds linguistic abilities and occu-


pational choices between Asian immigrants and whites remain apartial explanation of the silicon ceiling in SampE occupations Labourmarket discriminationmdashunequal treatment of workers because oftheir membership in a racialethnic groupmdashprovides a more persuas-ive explanation for the disparities between the two groups

Until the 20th century only a few privileged minorities wereallowed in the SampE profession in the US There has been a longhistory of racial differences between white men and minorities as anexplanation for the differences in minoritiesrsquo behaviour which leadsto inequality (and inferiority) in general and in SampE in particular(Gould 1981) To readdress past discrimination academic institu-tions government agencies and private companies are making anattempt to educate train hire and promote racial minorities in theSampE elds Af rmative action programmes have been a major driv-ing force behind the goal to achieve organizational diversity (Cox1995) Since the mid-1970s there has been a steady growth in thenumber of SampE degrees granted to minorities and their presence inSampE positions As a result overt discrimination against minorities inSampE occupations has been on the decline However they continue toface subtle discrimination In fact skilled minorities experiencegreater subtle discrimination than the less skilled because the compe-tition to perform well is rather intense for the former group than forthe latter group (Becker 1991)

Many studies have found overt and subtle bias in the decision-making process of promotion of Asian immigrants in the corporatesector (Becker 1991 Federal Glass Ceiling Commission 1995) Inacademia standards for hiring tenure and promotion magicallychange for Asian immigrant faculty in SampE (Manrique and Man-rique 1994) They receive little mentoring from the deans chairs orsenior colleagues during the tenure and promotion process Woo(2000) nds the same phenomenon in the government sector

There are several reasons for employers in SampE organizations todiscriminate against Asian immigrants Generally cultural values forpromotion end up re ecting traditional lsquowhite malersquo values Theunstated but ever present question is whether Asian immigrantscientists and engineers are like their white counterparts Asianimmigrants are generally viewed as lsquoforeignersrsquo lsquooutsidersrsquo andlsquostrangersrsquo (Fletcher 2000 Stober and Hoffman 2001) The enter-tainment industry has given an image of the mysterious Asian


immigrants Asian women are portrayed as obedient and motherly gures on the one hand and as the exotic and fragile on the otherDue to stereotypes and prejudice many employers tend to fearinsubordination from white co-workers as well as other managers(Tang 2000 p 57) For instance Asian immigrants are accepted togive orders and supervise other Asians but not to white co-workersand managers

The recent experience of scientist Wen Ho Lee a Taiwanesenaturalized American citizen demonstrates how Asian scientists andengineers are treated with suspicion In December 1999 the USgovernment alleged that China had pursued an espionage campaignfor US nuclear secrets and stole them China has denied suchallegations The US government accused Dr Lee of downloadinghundreds of classi ed les at Los Alamos National Laboratory inNew Mexico Dr Lee has maintained that he was creating a backupin case of a computer crash and has never spied for China or anyother country Further les which he downloaded in 1993 and 1994were classi ed lsquoProtect as Restricted Datarsquo they became lsquoSecretrsquo orlsquoCon dentialrsquo in 1999 (Lee 2001 p 262)

After conducting a massive investigation for Chinese espionageand keeping Dr Lee in a tiny solitary con nement cell for ninemonths the government dropped all but one of 59 charges againsthim Federal Judge James Parker set him free with an apology andextremely harsh criticism for the governmentrsquos conduct (Stober andHoffman 2001) Dr Lee was red from his job and has not beenreinstated

Asian immigrant scientists and engineers at Los Alamos andother national laboratories were hardest hit by the security proce-dures implemented after Dr Leersquos arrest They were under themicroscope if they had friends or relatives in the so-called sensitivecountries Their computer access was revoked and foreign travel wasrestricted They were removed from sensitive projects and theirauthority was eroded without explanation (Glanz 2000 Locke2000 Lawler 2000ab Stober and Hoffman 2001)

Many Asian scientists and engineers especially foreign-bornthroughout the US experienced systematic harassment because oftheir ethnicity The backlash against Asian scientists and engineerscan be seen from ethnic slurs at work and in the media For instancean Asian physicist at Los Alamos Laboratory received an e-mail


Credit Oliphant Oacute 1997 Universal Press Syndicate Reprinted with permission All rightsreserved

lsquoWen Ho Lee should be supported (by the neck) cut down drawnand quarteredrsquo (Lawler 2000b p 1072) Similarly a cartoon byOliphant (1999) showed a horde of tiny gures with buckteeth andthick glasses hurrying over a giant sleeping security dog at LosAlamos laboratory The bubble said lsquoThe Chinese eat dogs yrsquoknowrsquoABC Nightline (1999) carried a high pro le report on hostilityagainst Asian immigrants following charges of Chinese espionageUnlike Chinese Americans white Americans have not been heldresponsible when the latter were found to have sold secrets to theRussians Dr Leersquos case shows the prevalence of an old view that anAsian is an Asian no matter whether he or she is an Americancitizen

Another prevalent view of Asian immigrants is as lsquopassiveunassertive indirect more equipped for technical than people-oriented work and therefore not leadership materialrsquo (Federal GlassCeiling Commission 1995 pp 104ndash105) In the US it is believedthat upper-level administrators must possess re ned conceptual skillsto perform strategic planning for the organization contrarily lower-level administrators perform speci c ie more predictable functionsfor the organization Typically Asian immigrants are seen as good at


lsquoprogrammed decisionsrsquo (eg routine repetitive decisions that arelearned in advance) rather than lsquonon-programmed decisionsrsquo (egunpredictable creative quick and risky decisions that are not for-malized) (Wu 1997) Consequently Asian immigrants are viewed tobe mimetic rather than original and are taken to be suited forcarrying out other peoplesrsquo orders and ideas In other words theyshould not be bosses but be bossed The Federal Glass CeilingCommission (1995 p 102) found that Asian immigrants rarelycame to chief executive of cersrsquo (CEO) minds as prospective mana-gerial candidates Further CEOs viewed the glass ceiling in terms ofwomen If reminded that it also affects minority men they inter-preted minority as Afro-American and not as Asians

It is dif cult to believe that among a diverse mix of Asianimmigrant scientists and engineers no one is capable of providinginspirational leadership Furthermore their cultural background canmake them better managers in the changing global economy Theirparticipatory administration means involving subordinates in de-cision-making encouraging discussion and seeking egalitarian solu-tions to problems (Wu 1997) Since Asian immigrant scientists andengineers are above the national average in terms of educationalachievement they are prepared for management

Many Asian immigrants have responded against the ideology oflsquogood technicians rather than good managersrsquo by leaving the work-place to start their own high technology businesses (eg David Lamfounded Lam Research Narpat Bhandari founded Aspen Semicon-ductor Vinod Khosla founded Sun Microsystems David Leefounded Qume Lester Lee founded Ampex Suhas Patil foundedCirrus Logic and Steve Tran founded BeVocal) By 1998 Chineseand Indians were running a quarter of Silicon Valleyrsquos technologybusinesses which accounted for 17 of the total technology salesand 14 of total technology jobs (Saxenian 1999)

h Being outside the social networkSocial networks emerge as a matter of necessity around scientists andengineers who must pool resources and talent providing members ofthese networks with special access to information that is not availableto those outside Social networks in uence how individual scientistsand engineers exchange ideas information and resources in ways


that other forms of information transfer do not (Etzkowitz et al2000) Social networks provide information validation and encour-agement Tang (1997) notes that getting ahead in SampE often de-pends on lsquowhat you knowrsquo (human capital) as much as lsquowho youknowrsquo (social capital)

Asian immigrant scientists and engineers possess human capitalas re ected in their higher education and training However theyremain outside the formal and informal network and thus misscrucial opportunities for further career advancement If they are notexcluded from the lsquoold boys networkrsquo then Asian immigrants canacquire as well as increase information of the labour market in SampEoccupations

Presence of role models mentoring and active encouragementfrom colleagues and managers are key factors in motivating Asianimmigrants to switch from the technical to the managerial ladderSince the number of Asian administrators and managers is quite lowin SampE organizations it reinforces the image that such positions arenot meant for them (AACI 1993) This is a chicken-and-egg prob-lem The lack of mentors brings little inspiration and contact forAsian immigrant scientists and engineers to climb the managerialladder

Many Asian immigrants in SampE therefore have taken mattersinto their own hands by forming a wide range of professional andtechnical networks and institutions that facilitate job searchinginformation exchanges and access to capital and managerial know-how for new immigrants (Saxenian 1999) Ethnic social networksare collective responses of Asian immigrant scientists and engineersto the sense of exclusion from established social structures in SampEorganizations

j CONCLUSION HIGH-TECH COOLIESForeign-born Asians have made vast strides in education and em-ployment as compared with other minorities in the US such asAfro-Americans Hispanics and Native Americans They have takenhigher education in SampE as a pathway to advancement in Americansociety Their high level of academic achievements is re ected intheir high percentage in professional and technical occupations


They have been viewed a lsquomodelrsquo for under-represented minorities inSampE

Yet Asian immigrant scientists and engineers with similar educa-tional background and skills as whites do not have comparableprospects of success in career attainment The traditional argumentsfor the lack of advancement (eg lack of education lower scores inscience and mathematics and bias in socialization leading to lowercommitments to SampE) which are put forth for women and under-represented minorities do not apply to Asian immigrants Theirlower prospects have been explained by new cultural argumentsmdashsuch as preference for technical over managerial work lack ofcommunication and linguistic skills and passive cultural valuesunsuited for leadership Such alternative explanations howeverserve to justify and normalize the absence of Asian immigrants inhigh-pro le SampE positions Stereotypes racial prejudice and biasremain inescapable though people seldom like to talk about them inSampE organizations Many employers consciously or unconsciouslyuse raceethnicity as the basis for job assignments and promotion inSampE organizations Asian immigrants face internal barriers such aslack of mentoring biased rating and testing systems little access tonetwork counterproductive behaviour by colleagues and a workingclimate leading to isolation Frustrated with their ability to move upAsian immigrants have come to view their status as lsquohigh-techcooliesrsquo (Agarwal 2000)

Obstacles faced by Asian immigrants raise doubts regarding thetendency toward universalism in lsquohardrsquo science as suggested byMerton (1973) and others (Hergens and Hagstrom 1982 Bowenand Rudenstine 1992 Cole 1992) It appears that the mainstreamSampE culture ignores socialcultural differences between Asians andAmericans when it comes to philosophical issues on SampE activitiesbut holds on when it comes to the promotion of Asians

Currently SampE organizations accept and support diversity to amuch lesser extent than their ideal holds The issue is not whetherSampE organizations have people of diverse backgrounds since socialand cultural diversity results inevitably from the US demographicrealities Rather the issue is how to put diversity of Asian immigrantsin SampE organizations to the best possible use For instance mentor-ing can help Asian immigrants to attain the quali cations needed formanagerial positions Management training should be made avail-


able to those who need it in order to move beyond technical gradesSimilarly language development programmes should be providedMost importantly there should be institutional initiatives to mini-mize stereotyping to counter prejudice to improve cross-culturalinteractions and to modify organizational practices

j ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis research was supported by the National Science Foundation(SES 0136467) I would like to thank Scott Sandoval for assistingme in the literature search

h R E F E R E N C E SABC (1999) Nightline Available at httpabcnewscomonairnightlinetran-

scriptsnl990628-transhtml Agarwal VK (2000) lsquoDiamond ceiling for Asian Americansrsquo Science 290 (15

December) 2075Alarcon R (1999) lsquoRecruitment processes among foreign-born engineers and

scientists in Silicon Valleyrsquo American Behavioral Scientist 42(9) 1381ndash1397Alder NJ (1997) International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior Boston

Kent Publishers CompanyAsian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) (1993) Quali ed But hellip A

Report on Glass Ceiling Issues Facing Asian Americans in Silicon Valley San JoseAACI

Becker GS (1991) The Economics of Discrimination Chicago University ofChicago Press

Bedi H (1991) Understanding the Asian Managers Sydney Allen amp UnwinBerstein R (2000) lsquoFrom the Mideast to the Paci c a pro le of the nationrsquos

Asian foreign-born populationrsquo Census Brief CENBR00ndash4 Washington DCUS Census Bureau

Borjas G (1990) Friends or Strangers The Impact of Immigrants on the US EconomyNew York Basic Books

Bowen WG and Rudenstine NL (1992) In Pursuit of the PhD PrincetonPrinceton University Press

Cafferty PSJ Chiswick BR Greeley AM and Sullivan TA (1984) TheDilemma of American Immigration Beyond the Golden Door New BrunswickTransaction Books

Cao X (1996) lsquoDebating brain drain in the context of globalisationrsquo Compare26(3) 269ndash284

Cole S (1992) Making Science Between Nature and Society Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press

Cox T (1995) lsquoA diversity frameworkrsquo in MM Chemers S Oksamp and MACostanso (Eds) Diversity in Organizations Thousand Oaks Sage Publications


Dumont L (1986) Essays on Individualism Chicago University of Chicago PressEtzkowitz H Kemelgor C and Uzzi B (2000) Athena Unbound The Advance-

ment of Women in Science and Technology Cambridge Cambridge UniversityPress

Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) Good for Business Making Full Use of theNationrsquos Human Capital Washington DC US Government Printing Of ce

Finn MG (1991) lsquoPersonnel shortage in your futurersquo Research TechnologyManagement 34(1) 24ndash27

Finn MG (1999) Stay Rates of Foreign Doctorate Recipients from US UniversitiesOak Ridge Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering

Finn MG and Baker JG (1993) lsquoFuture jobs in natural science and engineer-ing shortage or surplusrsquo Monthly Labor Review 116(2) 54ndash61

Fletcher MA (2000) lsquoAsian Americans coping with successrsquo The WashingtonPost 4 March A03

Forbes (2001) lsquoForbes billionairersquo Forbes 9 July 9 Available at httpwwwforbescombillionaire

Friedburg RM and Hunt J (1995) lsquoThe impact of immigrants on host countrywages employment and growthrsquo Journal of Economic Perspectives 2(1) 40ndash51

Glanz J (2000) lsquoAmid race pro ling claims Asian-Americans avoid labsrsquo TheNew York Times 16 July B1

Gould SJ (1981) The Mismeasure of Man New York WW NortonGoyette K and Xie Y (1999) lsquoThe intersection of immigration and gender labor

force outcomes of immigrant women scientistsrsquo Social Science Quarterly 80(2)395ndash408

Hergens LL and Hagstrom WO (1982) lsquoScienti c consensus and academicstatus attainment patternsrsquo Sociology of Education 55(2) 183ndash196

Hofstede GH (1984) Culturersquos Consequences International Differences in Work-re-lated Values Beverly Hills Sage Publications

Johnson JM (1998) Statistical Pro les of Foreign Doctoral Recipients in Science andEngineering Plans to Stay in the United States Arlington National ScienceFoundation

Kang KH (1999) Characteristics of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the UnitedStates Arlington National Science Foundation

Lawler A (2000a) lsquoNew breed of protester asks why not usrsquo Science 290 (10November) 1075

Lawler A (2000b) lsquoSilent no longer model minority mobilizesrsquo Science 290 (10November) 1072ndash1077

Lee WH (2001) My Country Versus Me New York HyperionLewis GB and Kim PS (1997) lsquoAsian Americans in the federal service

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Locke M (2000) lsquoSome Asians leaving labs fewer comingrsquo Asian Week 21(30)3ndash5

Lollock L (2001) lsquoThe foreign born population in the United Statesrsquo CurrentPopulation Reports P20ndash534 Washington DC US Census Bureau


Lowry R (1997) lsquoChina syndromersquo National Review 24 March 38Manrique GG and Manrique CG (1994) lsquoImmigrant faculty and American

higher educationrsquo Proteus A Journal of Ideas 11(3) 31ndash34Merton RK (1973) The Sociology of Science Chicago University of Chicago

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National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (2000b) Women Minorities and Persons with Disabil-

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viewpocfmuc full date 5 19990430ampuc comic 5 poampuc daction 5 X Philipkoski K (2000) lsquoAsian scientists hit a ceilingrsquo Wired News Availableat httpwwwwiredcomnewsprint012943411000html

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Redding SG and Baldwin E (1991) Managers for AsiaPaci c Recruitment andDevelopment Strategies Hong Kong Business International

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ment with state local and federal government agencies inemployment with public and private institutions of highereducation Asian Americans enjoy the distinction of beingrepresented very highly as professionals But for some strangereason the same data shows that when it comes to being partof the management team those same professionalsmdasha cate-gory of workers from whom most managers comemdashdo adisappearing act hellip In public employment at all levels ofgovernment Asian Americans are employed as of cials andadministrators at the rate of only one-third of their representa-tion in professional jobs with the same employers hellip When itcomes to employment in the ranks of executives administra-tors and managers at our private and public institutions ofhigher learningmdashcolleges and universitiesmdashthe situationseems to be worse for Asian Americans than in any otheremployment sector Here Asian American managers are onlyone-fourth of their participation in professional and facultypositions (Woo 2000 p 60)

How should those statistics be interpreted This article arguesthat Asian immigrants play a role of lsquohigh-tech cooliersquo in SampEorganizations They are permitted to work mainly in those SampE rolesthat are non-competitive with white males Such occupations grantAsian immigrants a higher social and economic status compared withother minorities Yet Asian immigrants face structural barriers incareer mobility into positions of authority and power The generalculture in SampE organizations views them as foreigners and holdsback their careers

The article begins by providing a brief background of migrationand a selected description of Asian immigrants which has led totheir portrayal as a lsquomodelrsquo for other minorities in America Thenthe article questions that concept of lsquothe model minorityrsquo by outlin-ing the lsquosilicon ceilingrsquo which impedes upward career mobility forAsian immigrants in SampE organizations It is followed by a dis-cussion on theoretical perspectives which explore diagnoses orcauses of the silicon ceiling Finally the article summarizes theargument that Asian immigrants serve the role of high-tech coolie inSampE organizations


































































































































































Press


































































































































































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high-tech coolies: asian immigrants in the us …ucessjb/varma 2002.pdfscience as culture, volume...

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