The Study of Assortative Mating: Theory, Data, and Analysis

Abstract

Assortative mating provides an indicator of integration and fragmentation in modern societies, and of shifting social boundaries between groups. Assortative mating is expressed in both marital homogamy (likes marrying likes) and heterogamy, variously labeled exogamy, out-marriage, or intermarriage. The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate the great progress—both conceptually and methodologically—in studies of assortative mating over the past 25 years. It provides a forward-looking view of key research questions on assortative mating in rapidly globalizing societies and emerging data analytical problems that increasingly require new data, measurement frameworks, and statistical or empirical approaches. The rise of cross-cutting social circles in an increasingly globalized environment, in an age of the internet of growing interpersonal connectivity (i.e., social media), and on-going reductions in the constraints of space suggest new research questions that will create new opportunities for innovation and build on a rich theoretical and research tradition in family demography.