IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v51y2014i3p835-856.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patterns of Racial and Educational Assortative Mating in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Gullickson
  • Florencia Torche

Abstract

Exchange of racial for educational status has been documented for black/white marriages in the United States. Exchange may be an idiosyncratic feature of U.S. society, resulting from unusually strong racial boundaries historically developed there. We examine status exchange across racial lines in Brazil. In contrast to the United States, Brazil features greater fluidity of racial boundaries and a middle tier of “brown” individuals. If exchange is contingent on strong racial boundaries, it should be weak or non-existent in Brazilian society. Contrary to this expectation, we find strong evidence of status exchange. However, this pattern results from a generalized penalty for darkness, which induces a negative association between higher education and marrying darker spouses (“market exchange”) rather than from a direct trading of resources by partners (“dyadic exchange”). The substantive and methodological distinction between market and dyadic exchange helps clarify and integrate prior findings in the status exchange literature. Copyright Population Association of America 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Gullickson & Florencia Torche, 2014. "Patterns of Racial and Educational Assortative Mating in Brazil," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 835-856, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:3:p:835-856
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0300-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-014-0300-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-014-0300-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Choi, Kate H. & Tienda, Marta & Cobb-Clark, Deborah & Sinning, Mathias, 2011. "Immigration and Status Exchange in Australia and the United States," Ruhr Economic Papers 261, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Edward Telles & Nelson Lim, 1998. "Does it matter who answers the race question? Racial classification and income inequality in Brazil," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 35(4), pages 465-474, November.
    3. Leticia Marteleto, 2012. "Erratum to: Educational Inequality by Race in Brazil, 1982–2007: Structural Changes and Shifts in Racial Classification," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(3), pages 1155-1155, August.
    4. Zhenchao Qian, 1997. "Breaking the racial barriers: Variations in interracial marriage between 1980 and 1990," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(2), pages 263-276, May.
    5. Christine Schwartz & Robert Mare, 2005. "Trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(4), pages 621-646, November.
    6. Matthijs Kalmijn & Frank Tubergen, 2006. "Ethnic intermarriage in the Netherlands: confirmations and refutations of accepted insights," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 371-397, December.
    7. Aaron Gullickson, 2006. "Education and black-white interracial marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(4), pages 673-689, November.
    8. Vincent Fu, 2001. "Racial intermarriage pairings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(2), pages 147-159, May.
    9. Omar Arias & Gustavo Yamada & Luis Tejerina, 2004. "Education, Family Backgrounds and Racial Earnings Inequality in Brazil," Working Papers 04-04, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico, revised 2004.
    10. Leticia Marteleto, 2012. "Educational Inequality by Race in Brazil, 1982–2007: Structural Changes and Shifts in Racial Classification," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 337-358, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luca Maria Pesando, 2022. "A Four-Country Study on the Relationship Between Parental Educational Homogamy and Children’s Health from Infancy to Adolescence," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 251-284, February.
    2. Anukriti, S & Dasgupta, Shatanjaya, 2017. "Marriage Markets in Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 10556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Yang Yang, 2023. "Hukou Identity and Economic Behaviours: A Social Identity Perspective," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph23-02 edited by Catherine Bros & Julie Lochard.
    4. Allan Puur & Leen Rahnu & Luule Sakkeus & Martin Klesment & Liili Abuladze, 2018. "The formation of ethnically mixed partnerships in Estonia: A stalling trend from a two-sided perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(38), pages 1111-1154.
    5. Santana, Emilce, 2019. "POP award 2019 submissions," OSF Preprints ug3vb, Center for Open Science.
    6. Elwert, Annika, 2016. "Opposites Attract – Evidence of Status Exchange in Ethnic Intermarriages in Sweden," Lund Papers in Economic History 147, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    7. Ray, Tridip & Roy Chaudhuri, Arka & Sahai, Komal, 2020. "Whose education matters? An analysis of inter caste marriages in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 619-633.
    8. Zhiyong Lin & Sonalde Desai & Feinian Chen, 2020. "The Emergence of Educational Hypogamy in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1215-1240, August.
    9. Abigail Weitzman & Dalton Conley, 2014. "From Assortative to Ashortative Coupling: Men's Height, Height Heterogamy, and Relationship Dynamics in the United States," NBER Working Papers 20402, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Sarah R. Brauner-Otto & William G. Axinn & Dirgha J. Ghimire, 2020. "Parents’ Marital Quality and Children’s Transition to Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 195-220, February.
    11. Annika Elwert, 2020. "Opposites Attract: Assortative Mating and Immigrant–Native Intermarriage in Contemporary Sweden," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 675-709, September.
    12. Braulio Güémez & Patricio Solís, 2022. "Ethnoracial and Educational Homogamy in Mexico: A Multidimensional Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2331-2363, December.
    13. Zhenchao Qian & Daniel T. Lichter, 2018. "Marriage Markets and Intermarriage: Exchange in First Marriages and Remarriages," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 849-875, June.
    14. Koyel Sarkar, 2022. "Can status exchanges explain educational hypogamy in India?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(28), pages 809-848.
    15. Chinyere Osuji, 2024. "Moving for Love: Interracial Marriage and Migration in Brazil," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, January.
    16. Carvalho, J.R. & de Oliveira, V.H. & Ferreira Soares, S.P., 2023. "Skin Color Gap within Couples and Intimate Partner Violence in Northeast, Brazil: Evidence from the PCSVDFMulher," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/01, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    17. Thomas Laidley & Benjamin Domingue & Piyapat Sinsub & Kathleen Mullan Harris & Dalton Conley, 2019. "New Evidence of Skin Color Bias and Health Outcomes Using Sibling Difference Models: A Research Note," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 753-762, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Annika Elwert, 2020. "Opposites Attract: Assortative Mating and Immigrant–Native Intermarriage in Contemporary Sweden," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 675-709, September.
    2. Choi, Kate H. & Tienda, Marta & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Sinning, Mathias, 2011. "Immigration and Status Exchange in Australia and the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 5750, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. repec:zbw:rwirep:0261 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Kate H. Choi & Marta Tienda & Deborah Cobb-Clark & Mathias Sinning, 2011. "Immigration and Status Exchange in Australia and the United States," Ruhr Economic Papers 0261, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    5. Zhenchao Qian & Jennifer Glick & Christie Batson, 2012. "Crossing Boundaries: Nativity, Ethnicity, and Mate Selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 651-675, May.
    6. Mauricio Reis, 2017. "Fields of Study and the Earnings Gap by Race in Brazil," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 756-785, August.
    7. Natália S. Bueno & Thad Dunning, 2016. "Race, resources, and representation: Evidence from Brazilian politicians," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-144, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Ray, Tridip & Roy Chaudhuri, Arka & Sahai, Komal, 2020. "Whose education matters? An analysis of inter caste marriages in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 619-633.
    9. Rachel M. Shattuck & Meredith A. Kleykamp, 2018. "Conducive Characteristics or Anti-Racist Context? Decomposing the Reasons for Veterans’ High Likelihood of Interracial Marriage," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 261-299, April.
    10. Ognjen Obućina, 2016. "Partner Choice in Sweden Following a Failed Intermarriage," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(4), pages 511-542, October.
    11. Barber, Sharrelle & Diez Roux, Ana V. & Cardoso, Letícia & Santos, Simone & Toste, Veronica & James, Sherman & Barreto, Sandhi & Schmidt, Maria & Giatti, Luana & Chor, Dora, 2018. "At the intersection of place, race, and health in Brazil: Residential segregation and cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 67-76.
    12. Dan Rodríguez-García, 2015. "Intermarriage and Integration Revisited," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 662(1), pages 8-36, November.
    13. Elwert, Annika, 2016. "Opposites Attract – Evidence of Status Exchange in Ethnic Intermarriages in Sweden," Lund Papers in Economic History 147, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    14. Allan Puur & Leen Rahnu & Luule Sakkeus & Martin Klesment & Liili Abuladze, 2018. "The formation of ethnically mixed partnerships in Estonia: A stalling trend from a two-sided perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(38), pages 1111-1154.
    15. Jerônimo Muniz & Stanley R. Bailey, 2022. "Does race response shift impact racial inequality?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(30), pages 935-966.
    16. Andrew M. Francis & Maria Tannuri-Pianto, 2013. "Endogenous Race in Brazil: Affirmative Action and the Construction of Racial Identity among Young Adults," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 731-753.
    17. Kelly Balistreri & Kara Joyner & Grace Kao, 2015. "Relationship Involvement Among Young Adults: Are Asian American Men an Exceptional Case?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(5), pages 709-732, October.
    18. Letícia J. Marteleto & Molly Dondero, 2016. "Racial Inequality in Education in Brazil: A Twins Fixed-Effects Approach," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1185-1205, August.
    19. Perreira, Krista M. & Telles, Edward E., 2014. "The color of health: Skin color, ethnoracial classification, and discrimination in the health of Latin Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 241-250.
    20. Christina Houseworth & Jonathan Fisher, 2024. "Not so Black and White: Interracial marriage and wages," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(2), pages 633-649, April.
    21. Nora Gordon & Sarah Reber, 2018. "The effects of school desegregation on mixed-race births," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 561-596, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:3:p:835-856. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.