Cross-country variation in interracial marriage

A USA–Canada comparison of metropolitan areas

Bibliographic Data

ID7767306
AuthorsFeng Hou (0000-0002-4394-2167), Zheng Wu (0000-0002-9251-621X), Christoph M Schimmele (0000-0002-0171-0747), Christoph Schimmele, John Myles
Year2015
Volume38
Issue9
Pages1591-1609
Publication date2015-07-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2015.1005644
OpenAlexW1994589681
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited29

While black–white intermarriage is uncommon in the USA, blacks in Canada are just as likely to marry whites as to marry blacks. Asians, in contrast, are more likely to marry whites in the USA than in Canada. We test the claim that high rates of interracial marriage are indicative of high levels of social integration against Peter Blau's 'macrostructural' thesis that relative group size is the key to explaining differences in intermarriage rates across marriage markets. Using micro-data drawn from the American Community Survey and the Canadian census, we demonstrate that the relative size of racial groups accounts for over two-thirds of the USA–Canada difference in black–white unions and largely explains the cross-country difference in Asian–white unions. Under broadly similar social and economic conditions, a large enough difference in relative group size can become the predominant determinant of group differences in the prevalence of interracial unions

Census · Contrast (vision · Demographic economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Geography · Metropolitan area · Population · Race (biology · Sociology · Variation (astronomy · White (mutation · Demography · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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