ABSTRACT

This chapter examines how perceptions of economic stagnation during the early 1990’s affected ethnic solidarity among black and Korean merchants on the South Side of Chicago. The central argument of this chapter is that perceptions of economic stagnation led to growing competition and declining ethnic solidarity among Korean merchants, while they had no effect on competition and increased ethnic solidarity among black merchants. This distinction is explained by differences in the availability and utilization of ethnic and class resources between black and Korean entrepreneurs in minority markets.1 It will be argued that the middleman minority role that Korean merchants fill in the black community reduces the role of ethnic resources in their businesses. This is the case, since Korean merchants in the black community do not have a co-ethnic clientele.