Who is the Real American

Will the real American please stand up?

Two representations compete in the national imagination for who is authentically American. Sometimes Americanness is defined in terms of a set of deeply shared values (i.e., real Americans are civically engaged patriots), while at other times it is defined in terms of European ethnocultural ancestry (i.e., real Americans are White). 

Replicating prior research, we find that American nationality is implicitly associated with being White more so than Asian, Hispanic, or indigenous (American = White stereotype). Moreover, how much White Americans implicitly view racial and ethnic minorities as American depends on how “ethnic” they appear. Specifically, racial and ethnic minorities who appear ‘non-ethnic’ in appearance and speech (conforming to the mainstream prototype), are implicitly included in the circle of American. In contrast, individuals who appear ethnic in their appearance or speech, are excluded from the circle of being American. 

We find that when ethnic minority individuals serve the United States in a national capacity, the public perceives them as genuinely American. However, if they serve the local community, such service doesn’t make them seem quite as American as their White counterparts.

Our work shows that the implicit stereotype that American = White is significantly associated with employment discrimination against Asian Americans for national security jobs, but not other types of jobs. This effect is driven by doubts about loyalty and patriotism to the U.S.