Assortative Mating by Cultural and Economic Occupational Status

Abstract

This study examines two micro-level hypotheses about status homogamy: (1) the cultural matching hypothesis (people prefer to marry someone of similar cultural status) and (2) the economic competition hypothesis (people prefer to marry someone of high economic status). Detailed occupations of newlyweds in the 1970 and 1980 censuses are analyzed. Scales of cultural and economic occupational status are developed, and long-linear models of scaled association are used to analyze 70 x 70 occupational marriage tables. It is found that assortative mating by economic status, the economic dimension of status homogamy is more important when people marry late, and economic stats homogamy has increased between 1970 and 1980 at the expense of cultural status homogamy.