University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2012 King of the Hill's Souphanousiphones, the New Model Minority, and the Subversive Model Minority Robert Reece Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Reece, Robert, "King of the Hill's Souphanousiphones, the New Model Minority, and the Subversive Model Minority" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 241. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/241 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. KING OF THE HILL’S SOUPHANOUSIPHONES, THE NEW MODEL MINORITY, AND THE SUBVERSIVE MODEL MINORITY A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology The University of Mississippi by ROBERT REECE May 2012 Copyright Robert Reece 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Though the term “model minority” was only coined in the 1960s to apply to Asian- Americans, in the white imagination, a “model” way to be a minority has always existed. This model has gone through various iterations from the “happy” blacks of the antebellum years to supposedly over-achieving Asian-Americans of the 1960s. I argue that we are witnessing the emergence of a new model minority that includes not only Asian-Americans but other high- achieving minorities as well. This model minority is characterized by economic success, formal education, American values, and conservative racial politics or a complete silence about race.