Generations of immigrants have relied on small family businesses in
their pursuit of the American dream. This entrepreneurial tradition
remains highly visible among Korean immigrants in New York City,
who have carved out a thriving business niche for themselves
operating many of the city s small grocery stores and produce
markets. But this success has come at a price, leading to dramatic,
highly publicized conflicts between Koreans and other ethnic
groups. In Ethnic Solidarity for Economic Survival, Pyong Gap Min
takes Korean produce retailers as a case study to explore how
involvement in ethnic businesses especially where it collides with
the economic interests of other ethnic groups powerfully shapes the
social, cultural, and economic unity of immigrant groups. Korean
produce merchants, caught between white distributors, black
customers, Hispanic employees, and assertive labor unions, provide
a unique opportunity to study the formation of group solidarity in
the face of inter-group conflicts. Ethnic Solidarity for Economic
Survival draws on census and survey data, interviews with community
leaders and merchants, and a review of ethnic newspaper articles to
trace the growth and evolution of Korean collective action in
response to challenges produce merchants received from both white
suppliers and black customers. When Korean produce merchants first
attempted to gain a foothold in the city s economy, they
encountered pervasive discrimination from white wholesale suppliers
at Hunts Point Market in the Bronx. In response, Korean merchants
formed the Korean Produce Association (KPA), a business
organization that gradually evolved into a powerful engine for
promoting Korean interests. The KPA used boycotts, pickets, and
group purchasing to effect enduring improvements in
supplier-merchant relations. Pyong Gap Min returns to the racially
charged events surrounding black boycotts of Korean stores in the
1990s, which were fueled by frustration among African Americans at
a perceived economic invasion of their neighborhoods. The Korean
community responded with rallies, political negotiations, and
publicity campaigns of their own. The disappearance of such
disputes in recent years has been accompanied by a corresponding
reduction in Korean collective action, suggesting that ethnic unity
is not inevitable but rather emerges, often as a form of
self-defense, under certain contentious conditions. Solidarity, Min
argues, is situational. This important new book charts a novel
course in immigrant research by demonstrating how business
conflicts can give rise to demonstrations of group solidarity.
Ethnic Solidarity for Economic Survival is at once a sophisticated
empirical analysis and a riveting collection of stories about
immigration, race, work, and the American dream."
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