ABSTRACT
The study is based on 60 open-ended, in-depth interviews of adult secondgeneration Korean Americans in New York City.4 It was designed to explore how class and gender impact the racial and ethnic boundary construction processes by comparing the partner preferences of working-and middleclass Korean American men and women. Comparing the dilemmas, choices, and constraints involved in the partner selection processes of workingand middle-class Korean Americans contributes to our understanding of how class intersects with or overrides ethnicity in shaping both marital preferences and ethnic identities. The study also examines the continuing discrepancy in the intermarriage rates between Asian American men and women by assessing whether Korean American men and women have different notions about who they would like to marry. Finally, this study compares the internally and externally ascribed gender stereotypes of Korean American men and women, and examines whether the stereotypes impact their marital preferences.
