Asian American Culture

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Asian Americans are the fastest-growing group among all racial and ethnic groups identified in the U.S. Census. The numbers of Asian Americans have doubled in every census, from 0.60 million to 10.03 million in a span of less than 50 years (Sue, 2006) Korean Americans make up the fifth largest subgroup population of Asian Americans. Around 1.7 million of Korean descent resides in the U.S., making it the second largest Korean population living outside of Korea. Hawaii, California, and New York have the highest concentration of Korean Americans in the United States. (Chang, 2013) They are a highly urban population and are scattered all over the country. Asians have been coming to the United States in substantial numbers since the middle of…show more content…
Confucianism is a way of practicing a righteous lifestyle of loyalty, chastity, heroism, selfless friendship, and the man’s duty to use his talents to serve his family and country (Dunn, 1975). Combining Confucianism and a type of preferred religion gives Korean Americans their cultural beliefs and values. Just over 53 percent of Asian Americans profess religious affiliation and primarily spread among Buddhism, Protestantism, and Catholicism. However, it is not uncommon for non-practicing Korean Americans to pray at Buddhist temples and participate in Confucian ancestor rites. The trended cultural patterns among Korean Americans in terms of concepts, the group, harmony, modesty, education, status and customs come to great importance. Korean Americans are socialized to see the group as the most important part of the society; valuing group recognition and reward, emphasizing a sense of belonging to the group, and extending strong family ties to other relatives and close friends. They are expected to put group harmony first by avoiding personal conflicts and by complying others’ wishes. They are expected to show modesty by avoiding statements perceived as boasting or drawing attention to themselves. They place great value on education, seeing it as a moral virtue and an investment in family status. They value a sense of order and appropriate behavior between persons of varying status based on occupational position, education, wealth and family background. They respect seniority and the elderly and unlike other customs the gesture for beckoning someone to come is by holding out the arm with the palm down. In Korean American culture, it is considered very rude to point at someone, so one must refrain from sticking fingers at people. Meals are seen as ritualistic, communal and time consuming, and colors and numbers have different meanings (Dhooper

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