Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:40:26.499Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“SOME ASIAN MEN ARE ATTRACTIVE TO ME, BUT FOR A HUSBAND …”

Korean Adoptees and the Salience of Race in Romance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2008

Jiannbin Lee Shiao  and
Mia H. Tuan
Jiannbin Lee Shiao*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Dartmouth College, and Department of Sociology, University of Oregon
Mia H. Tuan
Affiliation:
Education Studies and Center on Diversity and Community, University of Oregon
*
Professor Jiannbin Lee Shiao, Department of Sociology, Dartmouth College, 6104 Silsby Hall, Hanover, NH 03755. E-mail: Jiannbin.L.Shiao@Dartmouth.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two indicators of race relations in the United States are interracial marriage and transracial adoption. We examine the salience of race in the romantic involvements of Korean adoptees, and we argue that mainstream racial discourses influence romantic preferences across variations in personal experience, local demographics, and social distance. Applying a dating-history approach to a probability sample of semistructured interviews with fifty-eight adult Korean adoptees, we demonstrate how racial discourses influence romantic preferences by shaping adoptees' interpretations of their romantic involvements across a range of structural conditions, and we also identify specific conditions that limit their salience. In brief, we introduce a conception of romantic preference that bridges the existing constructs in the qualitative and the quantitative literatures on interracial marriage.

Keywords

Transracial AdoptionAdopteeAsian AmericanInterracial MarriageInterracial DatingRacial FormationMixed MethodsOrdinal Logistic RegressionSemistructured Interviews
Type
STATE OF THE ART
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , Fall 2008 , pp. 259 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bell, Joyce M. and Hartmann, Douglas (2007). Diversity in Everyday Discourse: The Cultural Ambiguities and Consequences of “Happy Talk.” American Sociological Review, 72(6): 895–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, Peter Michael (1977). Inequality and Heterogeneity: A Primitive Theory of Social Structure. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. and Tuan, Mia H. (2006). Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, Henry E. and Collier, David (2004). Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Bratter, Jenifer and Zuberi, Tukufu (2001). The Demography of Difference: Shifting Trends of Racial Diversity and Interracial Marriage 1960–1990. Race and Society, 4(2): 133–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Michael K. (2003). Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Charmaz, Kathy (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Chen, Anthony S. (1999). Lives at the Center of the Periphery, Lives at the Periphery of the Center: Chinese American Masculinities and Bargaining with Hegemony. Gender and Society, 48(1): 584–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childs, Erica Chito (2005). Navigating Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Chow, Sue (2000). The Significance of Race in the Private Sphere: Asian Americans and Spousal Preferences. Sociological Inquiry, 70(1): 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill (1990). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill (2004). Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Dalmage, Heather M. (2000). Tripping on the Color Line: Black-White Multiracial Families in a Racially Divided World. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Kingsley (1941). Intermarriage in Caste Societies. American Anthropologist, 43(3): 376–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dhingra, Pawan (2003). Second-Generation Asian American Professionals' Racial Identities. Journal of Asian American Studies, 6(2): 117–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duster, Troy (1991). The Diversity Project: Final Report. Berkeley, CA: Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Espiritu, Yen Le (1997). Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws and Love. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Feagin, Joe (2006). Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Feigelman, William (2000). Adjustments of Transracially and Inracially Adopted Young Adults. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 17(3): 165–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feigelman, William and Silverman, Arnold R. (1983). Chosen Children: New Patterns of Adoptive Relationships. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Feliciano, Cynthia (2001). Assimilation or Enduring Racial Boundaries? Generational Differences in Intermarriage among Asians and Latinos in the United States. Race and Society, 4(1): 27–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fong, Colleen and Yung, Judy (1995–1996). In Search of the Right Spouse: Interracial Marriage among Chinese and Japanese Americans. Amerasia Journal, 21(3): 77–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankenberg, Ruth (1993). White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, Vincent Kang (2001). Racial Intermarriage Pairings. Demography, 38(2): 147–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anselm L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.Google Scholar
Grow, Lucille J., Shapiro, Deborah, and Center, Child Welfare League of America Research (1974). Black Children, White Parents: A Study of Transracial Adoption. New York: Research Center Child Welfare League of America.Google Scholar
Gullickson, Aaron and Fu, Vincent (Forthcoming). Comment: An Endorsement of Exchange Theory in Mate Selection. American Journal of Sociology.Google Scholar
Harris, David R. and Ono, Hiromi (2005). How Many Interracial Marriages Would There Be If All Groups Were of Equal Size in All Places? A New Look at National Estimates of Interracial Marriage. Social Science Research, 34(1): 236–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heaton, Tim B. and Albrecht, Stan L. (1996). The Changing Pattern of Interracial Marriage. Social Biology, 43(3–4): 203–217.Google ScholarPubMed
Heaton, Tim B. and Jacobson, Cardell K. (2000). Intergroup Marriage: An Examination of Opportunity Structures. Sociological Inquiry, 70(1): 30–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoffman, John P. (2004). Generalized Linear Models: An Applied Approach. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Hollingsworth, Leslie Doty (1997). Effect of Transracial/Transethnic Adoption on Children's Racial and Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem: A Meta-analytic Review. Marriage and Family Review, 25(1–2): 99–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, Ruth-Arlene (1995). Redefining the Transracial Adoption Controversy. Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, 2: 131–164.Google Scholar
Hwang, Sean-Shong, Saenz, Rogelio, and Aguirre, Benigno E. (1997). Structural and Assimilationist Explanations of Asian American Intermarriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(3): 758–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeung, Russell (1994). Southeast Asians in the House: Ethnic Formation and Transition. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Joyner, Kara and Kao, Grace (2005). Interracial Relationships and the Transition to Adulthood. American Sociological Review, 70(4): 563–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmijn, Matthijs (1998). Intermarriage and Homogamy: Causes, Patterns, Trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24: 395–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladner, Joyce A. (1977). Mixed Families: Adopting across Racial Boundaries. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday.Google Scholar
Lee, Richard M. (2003). The Transracial Adoption Paradox: History, Research, and Counseling Implications of Cultural Socialization. Counseling Psychologist, 31(6): 711–744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, Sara (2004). Marriage Dilemmas: Partner Choices and Constraints for Korean Americans in New York City. In Lee, Jennifer and Zhou, Min (Eds.), Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity, pp. 285–298. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberson, Stanley and Waters, Mary C. (1988). From Many Strands: Ethnic and Racial Groups in Contemporary America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert (1941). Intermarriage and the Social Structure: Fact and Theory. Psychiatry, 4: 361–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Joane (1996). American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neal, Leora (1996). The Case against Transracial Adoption. Focus Point, 10(1): 18–28.Google Scholar
Okamoto, Dina (2007). Marrying Out: A Boundary Approach to Understanding the Marital Integration of Asian Americans. Social Science Research, 36(4): 1391–1414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omi, Michael and Winant, Howard (1994). Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Perry, Twila (1993). The Transracial Adoption Controversy: An Analysis of Discourse and Subordination. New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 21: 33–108.Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro (1996). The New Second Generation. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Pyke, Karen and Dang, Tran (2003). “FOB” and “Whitewashed”: Identity and Internalized Racism among Second Generation Asian Americans. Qualitative Sociology, 26(2): 147–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pyke, Karen D. and Johnson, Denise L. (2003). Asian American Women and Racialized Femininities: “Doing” Gender across Cultural Worlds. Gender and Society, 17(1): 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, Zhenchao (1997). Breaking the Racial Barriers: Variations in Interracial Marriage between 1980 and 1990. Demography, 34(2): 263–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qian, Zhenchao (2005). Breaking the Last Taboo: Interracial Marriage in America. Contexts, 4(4): 33–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Root, Maria P. P. (2001). Love's Revolution: Interracial Marriage. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenfeld, Michael J. (2005). A Critique of Exchange Theory in Mate Selection. American Journal of Sociology, 110(5): 1284–1325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenfeld, Michael J. and Kim, Byung-Soo (2005). The Independence of Young Adults and the Rise of Interracial and Same-Sex Unions. American Sociological Review, 70(4): 541–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, Edward W. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Shiao, Jiannbin Lee (2005). Identifying Talent, Institutionalizing Diversity: Race and Philanthropy in Post–Civil Rights America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Shiao, Jiannbin Lee and Tuan, Mia H. (2008). Korean Adoptees and the Social Context of Ethnic Exploration. American Journal of Sociology, 113(4): 1023–1066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiao, Jiannbin Lee, Tuan, Mia H., and Rienzi, Elizabeth (2004). Shifting the Spotlight: Exploring Race and Culture in Korean-White Adoptive Families. Race and Society, 7(1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, Arnold R. (1980). Transracial Adoption in the United States: A Study of Assimilation and Adjustment. PhD Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James (1984). Adoption of Black Children by White Parents. In Bean, Philip (Ed.), Adoption: Essays in Social Policy, Law, and Sociology, pp. 229–242. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James (1994). Transracial Adoption: The American Experience. In Gabor, Ivor and Aldridge, Jane (Eds.), In the Best Interests of the Child: Culture, Identity, and Transracial Adoption, pp. 136–150. London: Free Association Books.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James (1998). Adoption and the Race Factor: How Important Is It? Sociological Inquiry, 47(1): 274–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Rita James and Altstein, Howard (1977). Transracial Adoption. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James and Altstein, Howard (1987). Transracial Adoptees and Their Families: A Study of Identity and Commitment. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James and Altstein, Howard (1992). Adoption, Race, and Identity: From Infancy through Adolescence. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Simon, Rita James and Altstein, Howard (2000). Adoption across Borders: Serving the Children in Transracial and Intercountry Adoptions. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Spickard, Paul R. (1989). Mixed Blood: Intermarriage and Ethnic Identity in Twentieth-Century America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Swidler, Ann (2001). Talk of Love: How Culture Matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatum, Beverly Daniel (1992). Talking about Race, Learning about Racism: The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1): 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatum, Beverly Daniel (1997). “Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations about Race. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Tessler, Richard C., Gamache, Gail, and Liu, Liming (1999). West Meets East: Americans Adopt Chinese Children. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.Google Scholar
Tuan, Mia H. (1998). Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Asian Ethnic Experience Today. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Valverde, Leonard A. and Castenell, Louis Anthony (1998). The Multicultural Campus: Strategies for Transforming Higher Education. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.Google Scholar
Waters, Mary C. (1999). Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. New York and Cambridge, MA: Russell Sage Foundation and Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams-León, Teresa and Nakashima, Cynthia L. (2001). The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Yancey, George (2003). Who is White? Latinos, Asians, and the New Black/Nonblack Divide. Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar