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A TEST OF THE AFRO CARIBBEAN MODEL MINORITY HYPOTHESIS

Exploring the Role of Cultural Attributes in Labor Market Disparities between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2016

Mosi Adesina Ifatunji
Mosi Adesina Ifatunji*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*
*Corresponding author: Mosi Adesina Ifatunji, Department of Sociology and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 155 Hamilton Hall CB#3210, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210. E-mail: ifatunji@unc.edu
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Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century, Black immigrants from the Caribbean attained greater socioeconomic status than African Americans. Although Black immigrants remain an understudied population, recent studies show that Afro Caribbeans continue to outperform African Americans in the labor market. Given that these groups share a set of racialized physical features, some contend that this gap highlights the role of cultural attributes in the manufacture of Black ethnic and Black-White racial disparities. In this study, I investigate the degree to which cultural attributes associated with a specific form of the model minority hypothesis are responsible for disparities between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans. I use data from the National Survey of American Life in order to test for the relative roles of work ethic, economic autonomy, oppositionality, family structure and function, and racial attitudes in the manufacture of disparate labor market outcomes between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans. I find mixed support for the idea that Afro Caribbeans constitute a model minority vis-à-vis African Americans and that differences in model minority attributes are only partially responsible for these labor market disparities. My findings suggest that racial inequality will not be undone if the racially stigmatized and marginalized simply work harder and complain less about race and racism in the United States.

Keywords

Racial InequalityBlack ImmigrantsBlack EthnicityBlack NativityModel MinorityAfro CaribbeansWest IndiansAfrican Americans
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , Spring 2016 , pp. 109 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2016 

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