Minority Identity Development Model

May 20th, 2014Asian Shame1 comment

In psychological circles, there is a four-step process of ethnic identity development known as the Minority Identity Development Model that I’d like to address.  The four stages are Pre-Encounter Stage, Encounter Stage, Immersion, and Internalization Stage.

Pre-Encounter Stage

In the Pre-Encounter Stage, minorities perceive the mainstream to being anti-minority and will act in ways to devalue their minority status.  For myself, I made sure when I was on the bus with my parents, I would never speak in Chinese to my relatives even though they were speaking to me in Chinese as I wanted to let all the black and white passengers know that I “belonged” in this country.  Also instead of wanting to bring any “Asian” food to school, I made sure to eat out at McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Subway any chance I could.

One clinical example is with a Filipino client who spent his entire K-12 school years in an all-white, Catholic setting.  He shared, “I thought I was white enough that white people would accept me”.  A friend even said, “We don’t think of you as Filipino we think of you as white as us and I thought of it as a compliment”.

In this stage, minorities can also strive to be as “white” as possible by speaking English at the expense of their native tongue.  Many clients I know stopped speaking their ethnic language for fear of being belittled or teased.  Ethnic food and other cultural customs could be devalued and avoided as a means to acculturate into the mainstream.

Relationally, some clients will adamantly only mingle with “white” crowds and detest any association with ethnic friends, colleagues, or communities.  In romantic relationships, some will go so far as to only date white as a means of garnering acceptance.

Encounter Stage

 During this stage, minorities begin to “encounter” or gain awareness of what it means to be minority, and they begin to validate themselves in terms of minority identity.
  Another client entered this stage following his high school graduation, “In college I then started to hang out with mostly Korean students, feeling like I belonged.”

In Seattle, I began entering this stage starting in the 5^th grade when I joined an Asian-American basketball league called SCAA.  It stood for Seattle Chinese Athletic Association but virtually any body with any trace of Asian blood could join from elementary school through high school.  The organization was geared around basketball but it was also a chance for us to get the support and validation we needed from other peers, coaches, and adults who were predominantly Asian throughout the Seattle region.

Immersion Stage

 At this point, individuals reject all mainstream (white) values and fully immerse themselves in minority culture.  This doesn’t happen to everyone but it’s something to be aware when working with minorities.  With this stage, I think about my dad who never had to be part of the mainstream white culture as a Chinese cook in a Chinese restaurant.  Since he worked in the kitchen, there was no need to dialogue with others.  Also, in his spare time he would go to Chinatown, a self-sustaining community where he could function just as easily as if he was still in Hong Kong.

One client I saw described what he did in this stage.  “I then started rejecting my white friends even when one long-time white friend asked if he could come along and I told him it’s really like a Vietnamese-only party.  In this stage he got to a point where he’d tell his white friends, “I don’t hang out with white folks anymore.”  His reasoning for this shared in this explanation, “You’re accepted by this part of the group so I rejected everybody else.”

I went through a year of immersion when I was in graduate school and became good friends with a Korean-American therapist.  We had decided to move to Los Angele’s Koreatown which is the largest population of Koreans outside of Seoul, South Korea.  We also agreed to ditch our television so our time was spent in coffeeshops, deli’s, grocery stores, and bars, all owned and operated by Koreans.  While he did all the talking, it was the closest I could say I was in this immersion stage of not having to interact with White America.

Internalization Stage

The last stage is Internalization where individuals develop a secure and self-confident minority identity and are also comfortable expressing preferences and interests for experiences from non-minority cultures.

Obviously not everyone reaches this stage and I’m not one to pathologize what’s healthy or unhealthy when it comes to one’s ethnic identity development.  For myself, I feel I’ve gotten to the point where I can enjoy both aspects of culture where I can be fully comfortable in Asian circles while also comfortable in my minority status in the mainstream white society.  But there are others like my dad who can only function well in his ethnic, Chinese circle since his English precludes him from engaging in non-Chinese circles.