Gendered Processes of Korean Small Business Ownership

This study examines how Korean immigrant women and men from the New York City metropolitan area become owners of small businesses. Interviews with owners and their family workers at seventy Korean-owned small businesses in three service and retail industries were conducted and supplemented by ethnographic observations, the 1990 Census, and interviews with informers. Patriarchal family relations, which emphasize male authority and female compliance, are key to understanding the current phenomenon of Korean immigrant entrepreneurship: how immigrants become owners, how businesses are run, and finally why they achieve a great degree of success.