EFFECTS OF ASSORTATIVE MATING MATT ERICKSON | SOC 760 | 11/5/18 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

EFFECTS OF ASSORTATIVE MATING MATT ERICKSON | SOC 760 | 11/5/18

DEFINITIONS ¡ “-gamy” words: ¡ Homogamy (same status) ¡ Hypogamy (woman has higher status) ¡ Hypergamy (man has higher status) !"#$%& $'()#* ¡ Equivalized income: # ), ,"#$%& #*#-*./

BREEN & SALAZAR 2011 ¡ Assortative mating: It increases inequality, right? ¡ Looking at change in household equivalized income inequality between 1970s and 2000s ¡ Decomposing the change into three ingredients: ¡ Inequality within educational household groups ¡ Mean earnings of educational household groups ¡ Group composition (this one measures effects of assortative mating)

BREEN & SALAZAR 2011 ¡ Turns out: Increased inequality was not the result of assortative mating Actually, assortative mating reduced the growth ¡ in inequality ¡ Assortative mating by education does not mean correlation between partners’ earnings ¡ Effects of assortative mating are complex

BREEN & SALAZAR 2011 – LIMITATIONS? ¡ Dropped top 4 percent of earnings distribution ¡ Educational categories: ¡ Less than grade 10 ¡ Grades 10-11 ¡ Grade 12 ¡ 1 to 3 years college ¡ 4+ years college ¡ Any issues here?

KIM & SAKAMOTO 2017 ¡ Who benefits from women’s rising educational attainment and earnings power? ¡ ”Rise of women” vs. declining returns from marriage market ¡ Standard of living measured by equivalized income ¡ Three 35- to 44-year-old cohorts: 1990, 2000, 2009-2011

KIM & SAKAMOTO 2017 ¡ Men benefit from women’s advancement? ¡ Women’s labor market returns have gone up, but marriage market returns have gone down ¡ Women used to marry up; now they marry down ¡ Women paying the price for men’s declining earning power ¡ Question: Does this change how we should interpret Breen & Salazar’s findings?

SCHWARTZ & HAN 2014 ¡ What about other effects of assortative mating? ¡ Women with an education advantage over their husbands (hypogamy) more likely to divorce? ¡ “Institutional change” perspective Shift in expectations: Male breadwinner to egalitarian relationship ¡ ¡ “Stalled revolution” perspective Advances in gender inequality have slowed or stopped since the 1990s ¡ ¡ Examining changes from 1950 to 2004

SCHWARTZ & HAN 2014 ¡ Hypogamous couples no longer more likely to divorce ¡ Homogamous couples have grown more stable, too ¡ Educated women were once at higher risk for divorce; no more ¡ Can we declare victory for the “institutional change” perspective? ¡ How might these trends affect inequality?

FINAL QUESTIONS ¡ Assortative mating: ¡ How is it related to family inequality? ¡ How is it related to gender inequality? ¡ Good or bad? Cause or effect?