The Triple Package

ALSO BY

AMY CHUA

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Day of Empire:
How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall

World on Fire:
How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability

ALSO BY

JED RUBENFELD

The Death Instinct

The Interpretation of Murder

Freedom and Time:
A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government

Revolution by Judiciary:
The Structure of American Constitutional Law

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First published by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2014

Copyright © 2014 by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Chua, Amy.

The triple package : how three unlikely traits explain the rise and fall of cultural groups in America / Amy Chua, Jed Rubenfeld.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-101-61013-8

1. Temperament—United States. 2. Personality—United States. 3. Ethnic groups—United States. 4. Success—United States. 5. American Dream. I. Rubenfeld, Jed, 1959– II. Title.

BF798.C48 2014 2013039970

305.5’230973—dc23

To

SOSO

and

LULU

ALSO BY AMY CHUA

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1
THE TRIPLE PACKAGE

CHAPTER 2
WHO’S SUCCESSFUL IN AMERICA?

CHAPTER 3
THE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX

CHAPTER 4
INSECURITY

CHAPTER 5
IMPULSE CONTROL

CHAPTER 6
THE UNDERSIDE OF THE TRIPLE PACKAGE

CHAPTER 7
IQ, INSTITUTIONS, AND UPWARD MOBILITY

CHAPTER 8
AMERICA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

INDEX

I
T IS ONE OF HUMANITY’S ENDURING MYSTERIES
why some individuals rise from unpromising origins to great heights, when so many others, facing similar obstacles and with seemingly similar capabilities, don’t rise at all.

This book is about that age-old question. We wrote it hoping that readers might come away with a better understanding of the world we live in—a world in which certain individuals and groups do strikingly better than others in terms of wealth, position, and other conventional measures of success.

The paradoxical premise of this book is that successful people tend to feel simultaneously inadequate and superior. Certain groups tend to make their members feel this way more than others; groups that do so are disproportionately successful. This unlikely combination of qualities is part of a potent cultural package that generates drive: a need to prove oneself that makes people systematically sacrifice present gratification in pursuit of future attainment. Groups that instill this kind of drive in their members have a special advantage in America, because contemporary American culture teaches a
contrary message—a message of self-acceptance and living in the moment.

—

T
HIS BOOK BRINGS
together two very different bodies of work and expertise. One of the two authors has written for almost twenty years about successful ethnic minorities all over the world, from Southeast Asia to Africa to the former Soviet Union. The other has written extensively on how the desire to live in the present has come increasingly to dominate modern Western culture, especially in America, undermining the country’s ability to live for the future. America was not always this way; in fact, as we’ll discuss, the United States was born a Triple Package country.

—

T
HAT CERTAIN GROUPS DO
much better in America than others—as measured by income, occupational status, test scores, and so on—is difficult to talk about. In large part this is because the topic feels racially charged. The irony is that the facts actually debunk racial stereotypes. There are black and Hispanic subgroups in the United States far outperforming many white and Asian subgroups. Moreover, there’s a demonstrable arc to group success—in immigrant groups, it typically dissipates by the third generation—puncturing the notion of innate group differences and undermining the whole concept of “model minorities.”

This book offers a new way to look at success—its hidden spurs, its inner dynamics, its costs. These costs can be high, even crippling. But when properly understood and harnessed, the package of three cultural traits described in this book becomes a source of empowerment unconfined by any particular definition of success. As we’ll show, the Triple Package can be a ladder to accomplishment of any
kind, including that which is measured not by gain to oneself, but by service to others.

Ultimately, the Triple Package is accessible to anyone. It’s a set of values and beliefs, habits and practices, that individuals from any background can make a part of their lives or their children’s lives, enabling them to pursue success as they define it.