Who Is My Neighbor?: Koreans Perceptions of Blacks and Latinos as Employees, Customers, And Neighbors

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explain why Korean store owners receive greater

hostility and rejection from the black community than from the Latino community. To answer this question, I examine Korean store owners' perceptions of blacks and Latinas, and their relations with them as employees, customers, and neighbors. The data for this study come from a sample survey, conducted between December 1993 and March 1994, of 198 Korean store owners in the Koreatown and South Central sections of Los Angeles. A major finding is that the common nativity status of Koreans and Latinos tends to reduce feelings of social distance between the two groups, whereas the different nativity status of Koreans and blacks tends to increase the distance between them. Moreover, blacks' perceptions that they are hosts and deserve social and economic advancements before immigrants makes them more critical of Korean businesses in their neighborhoods than Latinos do.