Is Intermarriage a Good Indicator of Integration?

TLDR

Intermarriage is often viewed as a marker of reduced social distance and the ultimate test of integration for ethnic minorities, yet its validity is questioned. This paper reviews and critically examines the assumed link between intermarriage and integration, exploring the nature and extent of integration achieved by minority groups and their partners. The authors analyze literature from the United States and Britain to assess how intermarriage relates to integration. They conclude that the intermarriage–integration link is more tenuous and complex than commonly believed, requiring a critical reappraisal in increasingly diverse multiethnic societies.

Abstract

In this paper I review and examine the assumed link between intermarriage and integration. I focus primarily on literature from the US and Britain. Intermarriage is said to signal a significant lessening of ‘social distance’ between a minority group and the White majority, enabling unions between groups which would previously have been taboo. It is often assumed that intermarriage for ethnic minorities is the ultimate litmus test of integration, but is it? And if there is a link between intermarriage and integration, what is the nature and extent of ‘integration’ achieved by minority groups and by the minority partner? I argue that the link between intermarriage and integration is both more tenuous and more complex than many social scientists have argued, and needs a critical reappraisal, especially in multiethnic societies which are witnessing unprecedented levels of diversity, both across and within their ethnic minority groups.