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Donghyun Danny Choi explains the need for stereotype eradication to facilitate immigrant inclusion in society

Donghyun Danny Choi is an assistant professor of political science at Brown University. His research focuses on themes such as democratic representation, immigration, and identity politics.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Oluwadamilola Akintewe, Salzburg Global Communications Intern: On the theme of “Connecting Generations”, how do socially reinforced biases deepen generational divides and prevent collective progress? 

Donghyun Danny Choi, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Brown University: In the context of my research, there is a generational divide. We measured these in a series of surveys, and it's consistent across all these surveys that the older generation is more predisposed to bias and opposition to immigrant minority communities. On the flip side of that, you see that the younger generation does tend to be more cosmopolitan and more accepting. If there isn't a lot of cross-fertilization of ideas and dialogue between these two generations, there is going to be a persistent gap.

OA: What are the effects of these individual biases on intergenerational connection?

DC: If these biases amongst the older generation persist, there is a real possibility that there will be an intergenerational transfer of those attitudes. We know from a lot of political behavior and clinical psychology research that the attitudes of parents are often transmitted to their children. It's a strong influence. For those in society and in the German context, the older generation who hold these views have the potential to implant the same ideas and negative stereotypes in the younger generation. That would be an impediment or barrier to better inclusion.

OA: Based on your book, “Native Bias: Overcoming Discrimination against Immigrants”, how can we facilitate the inclusion of immigrants and other marginalized groups in democratic processes? 

DC: The book, because it's academic, doesn't provide concrete policy solutions. But at the core of the book is stereotype eradication. The way we go about fixing this negative sentiment that is driven by these stereotypes is to systematically devise policies and initiatives that are targeted at eliminating prejudices [and] stereotypes and facilitating a dialogue between these two communities so that they can understand that they share much more common ground than differences. 

OA: Do you believe that stereotyping should be countered with reeducation?

DC: In a way. A vast majority of policy prescriptions solely focus on what the immigrants should do. These include sentiments like “immigrants should learn about the host culture and language and be more integrated into society”. However, rather than focus all our efforts on telling immigrants what to do, we should focus on reeducating, reengaging, and dispelling myths about immigrants among natives. So, our focus or target is on natives as well as working with immigrants to balance the scale.

OA: What are your takeaways from the KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative? 

DC: One of the biggest challenges for an academic is to engage with people who are on the ground trying to fix these problems. As academics, we think about abstract ideas and figure out ways to test those ideas. The flip side of that is that we never get to engage with these critical people, and we have much less of an idea of what the realities are on the ground. The Global Leadership Initiative is basically providing a forum for me to engage with people who are at the front lines tackling these problems firsthand. I'm learning a lot more about what organizations are doing to facilitate immigrant inclusion and how they are planning for a future where there's even more migration and that's a learning experience for me. It's something that I come across very rarely, and that's of huge benefit. I'm hopefully going to be able to provide some context from the academic angle about what clues we must devise and some creative solutions to tackle the problem.

Donghyun Danny Choi is part of the inaugural cohort of Fellows in the KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative. This year’s cohort focused on the theme of "Uncertain Futures and Connections Reimagined: Connecting Generations". We talked to him during the first in-person gathering of KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative Fellows from October 9-13, 2023, at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria.

The KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative is a multi-year program that annually brings together an international, intergenerational, and interdisciplinary network of Korean and global thought leaders to create new connections and tackle global challenges.