Encyclopedia of Sociology

ASIAN-AMERICAN STUDIES

chosen randomly such as ‘‘Oriental crime’’ in Cali-
fornia (Beach 1932); school achievement of Japa-
nese-American children (Bell 1935); and anti-Asian
sentiments (Sandmeyer 1939; Ichihashi 1932). A
noted pioneer community study of Japanese Ameri-
cans conducted by Frank Miyamoto (1939) in Seattle
in the late 1930s paved the way for the long and
significant bibliography on Japanese-American stud-
ies that followed.

Perhaps the most significant and ambitious
piece of work during the prewar era was the study
of social isolation of Chinese immigrants, which
took more than a decade to complete. The author,
Paul Siu, working under a condition of extreme
poverty for a decade, observed the life of Chinese
laundrymen. The product of his research endeav-
ors offers a classic text in the study of ‘‘unmeltable’’
immigrants, from which the concept of ‘‘sojourn-
er’’ independently complemented the earlier work
of G. Simmel (Siu 1952, 1987).

World War II and Japanese-American Stud-
ies. Large-scale systematic studies on Asian Ameri-
cans began shortly after the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, when the United States declared
war on Japan. The U.S. government stripped Japa-
nese Americans of their property, relocated them,
and housed them in internment camps for several
years. Alexander Leighton, a psychiatrist, recruit-
ed nisei social science graduates to assist in his
work in the camps, monitoring the morale and
loyalty of internees; this perhaps was the pioneer
work in assessing their group cohesion and struc-
ture. A few of Leighton’s nisei assistants complet-
ed their doctoral studies after the war, maintaining
a close and affectionate relationship with him. All
had made their own contributions as social scien-
tists and as Asian-American specialists. Leighton’s
work on the internment of these civilians (both
citizens and non citizens) resulted in the publica-
tion of a classic text on loyalty (Leighton 1945).

Thomas and Nishimoto (1946), Thomas (1952),
and Broom and Kitsuse (1955) also carefully docu-
mented the situation and the people of Japanese-
American communities. The focus of these studies
was the question of loyalty on the part of Japanese-
American citizens and their offspring in spite of
their brilliant wartime combat duties on behalf of
their adopted country in Europe. It was the Ameri-
can home front conditions had sparked an area of

development in social science research that paral-

leled some of the classic work on the study of the

Polish peasant (Thomas and Znanieki 1946). As a

result it increased the general knowledge base on

Japanese Americans, including their families and

communities, and their sacrifices and contribu-

tions to America’s wartime efforts.

Culture and Personality Studies in the Post-

war Era. During World War II, the U.S. govern-

ment had reason and the opportunity to question

the suitability of Asians as American citizens in

regard to loyalty and civic responsibilities. It was

also a time to test the myth that Asian immigrants

could not assimilate into American society. Social

scientists were intrigued by the way culture shapes

the personality. Ruth Benedict’s classic work on

the Japanese personality and society (Benedict

1946) opened a new vista for research. A cohort of

young scholars at the University of Chicago, which

included Japanese-American graduate students,

became known for their pioneer work in studying

Japanese behavioral patterns. It had a profound

effect on a generation of interested social scien-

tists and resulted in the publication of many classic

works on culture and personality (Caudill 1952;

Jacobson and Rainwater 1953; Caudill and DeVos

1956; DeVos 1955; Kitano 1961, 1962, 1964; Caudill

and Scarr 1961; Babcock and Caudill 1958; Mere-

dith 1966; and Vogel 1961). Similar studies on

other Asian-American groups are conspicuous-

ly absent.

Ethnic Studies and the Civil Rights Move-

ment. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement,

sparked by the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.,

contributed to the passage of an unprecedented

immigration-legislation reform. At the time there

existed among Asian Americans on the Pacific

Coast, principally in California, a collective search

for identity that shared many of the goals and

rhetoric of the black movement. Research into the

ethnic (Asian) U.S. communities had added two

dimensions. The first was the need to raise ethnic

consciousness as a part of the social movement.

Personal testimonials of experiences as members

of an oppressed minority provided insight into the

psychology of ethnic minorities. The emphasis on

the cathartic, as well as the cathectic quality in

much of the writings of the civil-rights era reflect-

ed the mood of the period: that there is a need for

alternative theories against the early assimilation