Inter-Ethnic/Interracial Romantic Relationships in the United States: Factors Responsible for the Low Rates of Marriages Between Blacks and Whites

Abstract

This paper examines the status of interracial romantic relationships among non-Black groups and those between Blacks and non-Blacks in the United States. The research shows that, apart from Blacks, inter-ethnic/interracial marriages and other forms of romantic unions have increased substantially by the 21 st Century. For Black Americans, however, the data show that just a very tiny fraction of them are involved in interracial romantic relations, including marriages with Whites and other non-White groups. The paper then goes on to present the factors responsible for this phenomenon.

Conjugality

“…Statutes forbidding interracial marriage might have been repealed, but to imagine that this is where the story ends is to situate marriage as the proper subject of fairytales rather than scholarship. 3 Regulatory frameworks of antimiscegenation have been dismantled, but-even 40 or 50 years later-interracial marriage remains relatively unusual (Kaba 2011;Fryer 2007;Jacobson, Amoateng, and Heaton 2004). Homogamy-that is, marrying someone in any number of ways "like" oneself (Burgess and Wallin 1943)-remains the norm.…”

Revealing Racial Purity Ideology

“…Deliovsky refers to this phenomenon as stigma transference . Numerous research studies confirm that White female–Black male relationships lead to White female stigmatization and marginalization (Kaba, 2011; Yancey, 2007), a backlash experience that Frankenberg (1993) described as rebound racism. The racial transgression of entering into intimate relationships with Black men stigmatizes their White bodies.…”

Black Americans and Interracial Marriage: A Focus on Black Women

“…The statistics above also show that although there are more marriage age Black women than Black men in the United States, there are more Black men involved in interracial romantic relationships. Kaba (2011a) presents several factors that have been cited as responsible for the visible increase in the number of interracial marriages in general or co-habitations in the United States in recent decades. Among the factors cited are: Increase in tolerance in the United States, Assimilation, Socioeconomic/Status Exchange Theory and Education, Geographic Location, Military,.…”

“…Kaba (2011a) points out that the concern about the transfer of wealth through inheritance as a result of death (pp. 124-127) and also through divorce is one of the primary reasons why European American leaders have opposed interracial marriages, because they fear that the White husband might transfer his wealth to his Black wife, because United States law allows the surviving spouse to inherit their estate.…”

“…Another area that has been examined is the gradual acceptance in recent decades of these relationships by Whites or Gentile European Americans, especially acceptance of Asians, Hispanics and other non-Black human beings. A number of these studies have also focused on the factors that are causing non-Blacks to reject Blacks as potential marriage or dating partners, and specifically factors that are causing White Gentile European American men, certain Black men and other non-Black men to reject Black women (Banks, 2011;Blau et al, 1988;Cready & Saenz, 1997;Crowder & Tolnay, 2000;Huges, 2003aHuges, , 2003bKaba, 2011a;Kalmijn, 1993Kalmijn, , 1998Mare, 1991;Model & Fisher, 2001;Porter & Bronzaft, 1995;Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1990;Qian, 1997;Walsh, 2012;Wong, 2003).…”