EDUCATIONAL HOMOGAMY IN 65 COUNTRIES - AN EXPLANATION OF DIFFERENCES IN OPENNESS USING COUNTRY-LEVEL EXPLANATORY VARIABLES

Loglinear analysis is used to assess the degree of educational homogam y in 65 countries. Differences in educational homogamy among these cou ntries are then explained in terms of level of economic development, d egree of political democracy, the dominant religion, and the technolog ical background of developing countries. An inverted U-curve relations hip is found between level of economic development and educational hom ogamy. Furthermore, cultural characteristics are found to be important explanatory variables. Grouping countries into ''families of nations' ' according to dominant religion and technological background helps ex plain the differences among countries. Catholic, Muslim, Confucian, an d mixed Catholic/Protestant countries show significantly more educatio nal homogamy than do Protestant countries, and industrializing societi es with a horticultural background show significantly less educational homogamy than do industrializing societies with an agrarian backgroun d.