A descriptive analysis of racial attitudes of African-Americans and Korean-Americans toward each other.

摘要

Racial conflicts between African-Americans and Korean-Americans have subsided from public discourse, but remain a problem. This study investigated the current racial attitudes of African-Americans and Korean-Americans toward each other in the suburban Washington, D.C. area. This study explored the causes of racial conflicts between the African-Americans and Korean-Americans within the historical, socio-economic, cultural, and political context in which they live.;Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used in this study. The research used a modified version of the Subtle and Blatant Racism Scale to measure the racial prejudice of African-Americans and Korean-Americans. The questionnaire consisted of five categories: threats and rejection factor items, intimacy factor items, traditional value factor items, positive emotional factor items, and fact finding items. The test included 25 items in two languages, English and Korean. The first 24 items were in the Likert format, and the 25th item was an open-ended question. Item responses were scored 1 ("strongly disagree"), 2 ("disagree"), 3 ("agree"), 4 ("strongly agree"), and a category for no opinion; the high scores indicated less prejudice. The subjects included a convenient sample of African-Americans and Korean-Americans who live in the suburban Washington, D.C. Area (Washington, D.C, Maryland, and Virginia). The samples were composed of educated, middle class subjects, with an equal number of African-Americans (n = 70) and Korean-Americans (n = 70) with a total of 140 subjects. The questionnaires were administered to the subjects in separate settings. In addition to a survey questionnaire, personal interviews were conducted with the subjects to validate their racial prejudices and also to gather more in-depth comments, suggestions, and recommendations which can be used to improve race relations between the two groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures. The t-test result revealed that t = 2.341 with 134.971 degrees of freedom, which was significant at the .05 level. The result of the study indicated that there are significant differences of racial attitudes of African-Americans and Korean-Americans toward each other. The major null hypothesis which stated that there are no significant differences in the racial attitudes of African-Americans and Korean-Americans toward each other was not supported.;The study further explored intervention programs, and workshops/seminars that could provide strategies to resolve the existing racial prejudices, stereotypes, and conflicts between these groups in the context of American society. The findings in this study will contribute to scholarly literature in the areas of social movements, minority to minority conflicts, racism, and the significance of the social construction of race in America.