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Tiger Mum's new book stirs up culture wars

"Tiger Mom" Amy Chua, Photo: Getty Images

Remember "Tiger Mom," the Yale professor who brought us the most buzzy and controversial child rearing philosophy since helicoptering and attachment parenting?

Well now the ire-raising author of "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," Amy Chua, who argued that strict, Chinese mums are best, is back—and on her way to raising even more hackles this time around. Her latest book, "The Triple Package," deems eight cultural groups in America as being superior to others.

And, though the book is not due out until February, Twitter criticisms are already flying, with many calling Chua "racist" and a self-promoter.

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But the reality, notes the book, co-written by Chua's husband and fellow Yale professor Jed Rubenfeld, is that "uncomfortable as it may be to talk about," some "religious, ethnic, and national-origin groups are starkly more successful than others."

Those groups, according to the authors, are Mormons, Cuban exiles, Nigerian Americans, Indian Americans, Chinese Americans, American Jews, Iranian Americans and Lebanese Americans. And the reasons they excel, the book notes, is because of a basic "triple package" formula: a superiority complex, insecurity and impulse control.

A Publishers Weekly review calls the book a "comprehensive, lucid psychological study," which balances its findings with the downsides of the "triple package."

And the authors address cultural stereotyping early on in the book, explaining, "Throughout this book, we will never make a statement about any group's economic performance or predominant cultural attitudes unless it is backed up by solid evidence, whether empirical, historical, or sociological. But when there are differences between groups, we will come out and say so." They add, "Group generalisations turn into invidious stereotypes when they're false, hateful, or assumed to be true of every group member. No group and no culture is monolithic."

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But that hasn't quieted a slew of critics. Peter Kiang, director of the Asian American Studies Program at University of Massachusetts Boston, tells Yahoo Shine in an email, "I don't see any credible cultural superiority argument that can be made in this way… and assume that the authors' intentions are primarily meant to enhance marketing and publicity for their book." He adds, "The self-serving nature of the argument does seem to reveal the authors' own senses of superiority and insecurity, but not so much their impulse control."

And Ed Liebow, executive director of the American Anthropological Association, tells Yahoo Shine, "To generalise about some common characteristics is not a very productive way to talk about culture." Though he has not yet read the book, he adds, "I find it very troubling. As anthropologists, we have always avoided value judgments, or the idea that one cultural group is more exceptional than another."

Many on Twitter, meanwhile, have responded angrily to early coverage of the book.

Other choice phrases on Twitter: "racist," "awful," "racist psychopath," "idiot," "nonsense," "race baiting clap trap" and, finally, from the political organisation MOMcrats, "Amy Chua trolls us all for college tuition for child number two/book number two. YAWN."

Chua and Rubenfeld have not yet responded to the wave of criticism. But if the book's narrative is any indication, it won't be taken to heart. "Scorn," the duo writes in chapter four, "is a legendary motivator."

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