Shopping cultures
Subtitle: dating attitudes and behaviors among second-generation Chinese American youths
By: Baozhen Luo
Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Saarbrücken, Germany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 125
ISBN-13: 9783836436182
Subjects: Chinese Americans; Social conditions; Ethnic identity; Cultural assimilation; Dating (Social customs)
Other titles: Dating attitudes and behaviors among second-generation Chinese American youths
Description: This thesis explores and identifies patterns of dating attitudes and behaviors among second-generation Chinese Americans. Grounded theory is applied to analyze data from in-depth interviews with 20 second-generation Chinese Americans in metro- Atlanta area. By using a social constructionist model of ethnicity, I uncovered a subtle process by which the second-generation Chinese youths constructed their dating values and identities through both differentiating and integrating their parents' and white peers' dating cultures and gender norms. Second-generation Chinese American youths constructed and reconstructed their own dating values, gender norms, and further ethnic identities through various processes of picking and choosing from both cultures. I argue that straight-line assimilation theories, which assume adaptation into mainstream American culture, do not explain the complexity of the dating culture created by the second-generation Chinese American youths. In conclusion, the findings of this study revealed a new dimension of the social construction of ethnic identity: the agentic dynamics of constructing the second-generation Chinese American identity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-119).