나성에 가면: 로스앤젤레스 한인과 자영업

Abstract

By using Korean immigrant community in Los Angeles as a case study, this article examines why urban middle-class Koreans immigrated to the United States since 1965 as well as why and how they became small business owners. When the middle-class Korean immigrants found themselves disadvantaged in the American labor market, they tried to survive by starting small businesses. It suggests how those immigrants understood, responded to, and negotiated with their new environment. However, most research on Korean Americans has tended to place disproportionate emphasis on internal resources such as Korean ethnic banks and keys to explain the reason for their dominance in the area of small business. While many of the Korean immigrants utilized these internal resources, this article argues that they were also assisted by external resources from the U.S. government and financial institutions.