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Through forty-two in-depth interviews, this exploratory study examines how members of the Korean diaspora in the Washington, DC area makes meaning of political engagement and identifies factors that encourage and inhibit political engagements. Beyond previous framework that examines place, type of group and organizational type, this study suggests underestimation of self's political engagement, lack of strong ownership, negative perception on politics, language barrier, religious faith, gender as well as double-standard-on-others have been identified as factors that encourage and inhibit political engagement of ethnic Koreans. Findings extend previous research on political engagement of ethnic minorities and suggest areas for future research.
Key Words: Korean Diaspora, Religious Social Capital, Political Engagement, Qualitative Research
I. Introduction
The new generation of Americans is expected to consist of ethnic minorities. In 1970, ethnic minorities in America were counted at around eleven million, and as of 2008, the number reached sixtyseven million. According to the Pew Research Center, by 2050 the population of the U.S. is expected to rise to 438 million from 296 million in 2005 and eighty-two percent (117 million) of the increase will be due to immigrants (arriving to the States from 2005 to 2050). Moreover, by 2050, nearly one in five Americans (nineteen percent) will be an immigrant (or their U.S. bom children or grand children). In particular, Latinos alone are projected to be one fourth of the entire population in the United States by the year 2050 and Asians are expected to be around ten percent by that year (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). However, despite the growing number of new citizens, there is little known about political engagement of the new ethnic groups in America. The majority of studies on political engagement has centered on Anglo-whites (Verba et al., 1995). More studies are examining Latinos as their numbers are increasing; however, qualitative studies that examine how Asian Americans make meaning of political engagement have been rare. Also, studies on political engagement of Asian Americans have centered on electoral voting behaviors, that is, quantified data of their participation (Lien, 2001). Moreover, while some studies make ethnic distinctions most quantified data report Asians as one unifying group, making it difficult to understand differences of political engagement per ethnicity.
This qualitative study focuses on political engagement of ethnic...