The Success Trifecta

The Tiger Mom, Amy Chua, is at it again. She and her husband Jed Rubenfeld have written a book about the qualities that make some groups successful in America.  (Here’s a piece they wrote summarizing their idea for The New York Times.) Mostly they are thinking about the usual suspects, i.e. Chinese, Indians, Koreans. But they add others, most interestingly Mormons.

Their idea is that it’s not ethnicity, it’s culture–and in particular a Trifecta of qualities: Superiority, Insecurity, and what they call Impulse Control but which we might as well call The Work Ethic.

Security and Insecurity are paradoxical. On the one hand, you need to believe that you have The Right Stuff, because of your ethnic heritage, your IQ, or whatever. (God’s Chosen People may also enter here.) On the other hand, you need sufficient Insecurity to always feel you must try harder than everybody else. That’s where Work Ethic comes in: it’s not enough to believe you must try harder, you must actually try harder.

These are all classically attributes of immigrants–at least, of some immigrants. They are highly motivated because they have taken an incredible dare and it is incredibly hard, particularly if they are learning a new language. If they didn’t believe in themselves, if they weren’t incredibly motivated and didn’t work incredibly hard, they probably couldn’t do it at all.

I find it interesting to think about these qualities not just in ethnic groups but also in families. For instance, my family. There was certainly a moderate amount of Superiority. I remember my dad telling me that it would be an insult to get a B in school. He meant, for us. My mother passed on a sense of Superior Scottishness: Scots were tougher than other people. Insecurity? Not much on the Scottish side, but some coming from my dad’s growing up very poor. There was a bit of chip on the shoulder. Most fundamentally, though, a lot of work ethic. My mother insisted on taking us out to the fields to pick grapes when we were little, just so we would know what hard work is. She picked with us. It was about 150 degrees. Hard work has never been hard for me, or for my brother and sisters.

A word of caution: this approach can turn into racialism. There are other factors that lead any group to experience success: educational base, network of supportive contacts, financial capital, cultural capital. This Time Magazine article is critical of Chua on this basis. It’s a helpful corrective.

Nevertheless, I think Chua is touching on something important, just as she did in her Tiger Mom book on parenting. There are inspirational, aspirational aspects of living that may make all the difference in families and even in individuals. Yes, there are other factors at play, often societal. But the Success Trifecta focuses on qualities that can be inspired or caught. A good teacher, a determined grandparent, a Boy Scout Leader, a pastor may foster them in others.