THE CHANGING PATTERN OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

Recent studies have demonstrated an increased occurrence of interracia l marriages in the United States, indicating important shifts in inter group relations. The effectiveness of traditional theoretical approach es in explaining who marries whom, however, remains problematic. Recen tly, exchange explanations (which have typically assumed that the blac k partner in the union exchanges educational and economic accomplishme nts for the higher ''status'' of the white spouse) have been replaced by progressive theories emphasizing a trend away from ascriptive and t oward achievement norms. We extend this approach by predicting an econ omic and educational gap between spouses in interracial marriages when compared with racially homogamous marriages. Using the 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample, we find continuing evidence that racial b arriers in mate selection are weakening. Further, people who intermarr y, regardless of race or gender, tend to have higher educational and e conomic status than those in homogamous marriages. There is still limi ted support for the kinds of social exchanges between spouses that wer e implied in earlier sociological theories. We conclude that (1) socio economic differentials are not always consistent with the exchange per spective and (2) that recent trends are not systematically eroding the se socioeconomic differentials in mate selection.