Fear of crime among Korean Americans in the Chicago area: A multilevel analysis
Abstract
“Middleman minority theory,” as developed by Blalock and Bonacich, focuses on immigrant adaptation strategies within a larger (potentially hostile) society. Key characteristics of middleman minorities include: (1) a concentration in small retail businesses that serve communities of diverse other minorities; (2) strong ethnic cohesion; and (3) conflict with other ethnic groups. Korean communities in the urban U.S. exhibit all three of these key characteristics. The present study examines Korean Americans' fear of crime by testing an explanatory model combining middleman minority theory and Ferraro's risk interpretation approach, while also incorporating and controlling for the potential influence of ecological characteristics of Korean neighborhoods. The data consist of 742 adult Korean Americans residing in 286 neighborhoods in metropolitan Chicago who were sampled from 33 ethnic Korean churches. Hierarchical linear models show significant effects of the following middleman minority characteristics in predicting Korean Americans' fear: English language proficiency, length of residence in the U.S., exposure to ethnic Korean media, perceived potentiality of future racial rioting in the Chicago area, and anti-black prejudice. The indirect effects of these factors, through perceived incivility, perceived risk, and behavioral adaptations, appear to be minor. The influences of physical vulnerability traits (such as age, gender, and health) and general attitude on crime-severity in the American society are also very strong in explaining fear among Korean Americans. Some significant contextual effects of neighborhood environments (such as suburban/innercity trait, density, rate of youth population, average education, poverty rate, and average number of persons per room) were found, but they were much greater in predicting perceived incivility than fear of crime. This study illustrates the importance of cultural aspects and dynamics of interracial conflicts in explaining fear of crime, and suggests some important directions for future research on minority group characteristics, perceived victimization risk, and fear of crime.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Ulmer, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Criminology|Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology
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