Consuming Citizenship: Children of Asian Immigrant Entrepreneurs (review)

This work investigates the link between consumption and citizenship among Chinese-American and Korean-American adolescents and young adults whose parents work as small business owners. Park critiques previous work that simply describes the mobility patterns of immigrants and their children without questioning how they interpret their mobility. She argues that the more interesting questions to ask of Asian Americans are "why Asian Americans are made to feel compelled to proved their 'Americanness' and how Asian Americans display their social citizenship (or belonging)." Her definition of consumption is not simply about material goods but also the career choices that her respondents make to promote their consumptive power. She argues that consumption is also about the social process of consuming. These are provocative questions, and they provide a unique treatment of the experiences of children of immigrants whose family businesses defined their childhood and their relationship with their parents and siblings.

Park uses a variety of interviews, focus groups and informal conversations with more than 88 primary respondents (adolescents and young adults of immigrant parents) and additional conversations with family and community members. In total, she interviewed more than 100 individuals. While her primary focus was on Asian Americans of all ethnicities, her primary data collection garnered almost exclusively Chinese-American and Korean-American respondents; hence she focused on these two groups. She weaves together a vivid portrayal of the everyday lives of these young people and their common sense of obligation to their parents. Park uses a wide variety of previous research and theory, ranging from Veblen's discussion of conspicuous consumption to contemporary work about ethnic entrepreneurs. She also shows a clear mastery of authors who work in Ethnic Studies and Asian-American Studies. This is an extremely well-written book, but is somewhat unsatisfying analytically.

While the proposed goal of the book is about consumption and citizenship, the primary empirical chapters (Chapters 4 and 5) do not address consumption at all. Chapter 4, titled "The Business in Children's Lives," portrays the loss of childhood and the conflation of having adult-like roles but being treated as perpetual children who must obey their parents' wishes. While this is an extremely interesting chapter, it does not elucidate the thesis of the book. Chapter 5, "The American Narrative of Asian Immigration," examines the narratives of relative upward, flat or downward mobility of the immigrant parents. The goal here is to provide an interpretive account from the children of their parents' socioeconomic mobility.

Park does not return to the question of consumption until Chapter 6, "Consumption Fantasies of Upward Mobility." Here, the children describe their goals of fulfilling obligations to their parents through material goods and career goals. The ability to provide these possessions or manifest their status to their parents is meaningful not only because it allows children to express their appreciation of their parents, but because it allows parents to tell their peers that their sacrifices have been worthwhile. It is important to note that these aspirations are not just about the actual items but the meaning of these goods. For children who hope to buy their parents a Mercedes, this gift not only conveys their appreciation for their parents' hard work, but also serves as an external symbol of their own success as legitimate and complete Americans. The latter is a new and important contribution that Park makes to this literature

The final chapter is a brief reflection on the legitimacy of immigrants as American citizens primarily defined by their economic contributions. Park argues that this results from a "conflation of the economic system of capitalism with the political system of democracy, with patriotism measured by economic 'benefit.'" In other words, consumption helps to define citizenship for all, although it is not sufficient in providing the means to full citizenship for disadvantaged minority groups. Her thesis is interesting, but it is not directly linked to her empirical work. Do Asian Americans simply provide an example of this argument? Would we find similar...