'Tiger mother' returns with provocative theory of 'cultural group' success

(from theguardian.com
by Alison Flood)

Roar emotions … Tiger mother Amy Chua. Photograph: Lorenzo Ciniglio/Polaris

"Tiger mother" Amy Chua, who sparked controversy three years ago with her attack on western parenting, returns next month with a claim that certain "cultural groups" in America – including Jews, the Chinese and Mormons – "starkly outperform" others.

Chua's The Triple Package, co-written with her husband and fellow Yale Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld, is not published until next month but has already attracted vicious reviews in America. The New York Post called it "a series of shock-arguments wrapped in self-help tropes", and said "it's meant to do what racist arguments do: scare people", while Salon dismissed the title as a "despicable new theory about racial superiority".

Chua and Rubenfeld posit that eight "cultural groups" in America – Jews, Mormons, Chinese, Cuban exiles, Nigerians, Indians, Lebanese-Americans and Iranians, as outlined by the Post – "starkly outperform others". Why, they ask, do Jews win so many Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, why are Mormons running the business and finance sectors, and "why do the children of even impoverished and poorly educated Chinese immigrants excel so remarkably at school?"

"That certain groups do much better in America than others – as measured by income, occupational status, test scores, and so on – is difficult to talk about," they acknowledge. "In large part this is because the topic feels racially charged. The irony is that the facts actually debunk racial stereotypes. There are black and Hispanic subgroups in the United States far outperforming many white and Asian subgroups. Moreover, there's a demonstrable arc to group success – in immigrant groups, it typically dissipates by the third generation – puncturing the notion of innate group differences and undermining the whole concept of 'model minorities'."

The book looks at three qualities the authors believe "propel certain cultural groups to disproportionate achievement" – a superiority complex, insecurity, and impulse control. "All of America's most successful groups believe (even if they don't say so aloud) that they're exceptional, chosen, superior in some way," writes US publisher Penguin Press of the forthcoming title. Also, "Americans are taught that self-esteem – feeling good about yourself – is the key to a successful life. But in all of America's most successful groups, people tend to feel insecure, inadequate, that they have to prove themselves." And "America today spreads a message of immediate gratification, living for the moment. But all of America's most successful groups cultivate heightened discipline and impulse control."

Early reviews of the title have varied wildly: the New York Post write-up, by Maureen Callahan, knocked its "specious stats and anecdotal evidence" and accused the authors of cynically sparking controversy following the success of Chua's divisive Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she outlined the strict Chinese approach to parenting. ("Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child does not get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough.")

"Chua's book was a bestseller, so it's little surprise she's back with an even more incendiary thesis, one so well timed to deep economic anxiety, to the collective fear that the American middle class is about to disappear, for good, and the misguided belief that immigration reform will result in even less opportunity for Americans than there is now," wrote Callahan.

While acknowledging the book as "provocative", however, Publishers Weekly described The Triple Package as a "comprehensive, lucid sociological study", and Kirkus Reviews found that "on a highly touchy subject, the authors tread carefully, backing their assertions with copious notes", concluding that "though coolly and cogently argued, this book is bound to be the spark for many potentially heated discussions".

The book's UK publisher Bloomsbury, which will release the title on 5 February, has praised its "groundbreaking original research and startling statistics", and said the "provocative, probing and profound" book "explodes the myth of innate group differences".