Interracial Relationships
Interracial Relationships
I. Statement of the Problem
Interracial relationships have commonly been frowned upon by society and even illegal at times throughout the history of the world. The question that will be answered in this report is concerned with the broad spectrum of social problems and qualms with interracial relationships, and how members of interracial relationships overcome those problems.
II. Review of Literature
As controversial as interracial relationships and marriages are and have been, they are much understudied. One of the articles that were used even states that they are understudied and can’t give a valid explanation as to why. A recent as 1970, only approximately 1 out of 1000 marriages was interracial. By the early 21st century, there were approximately 1.6 million interracial or interethnic marriages, making up 3% of all marriages (JSPR 66).
Even though they have become more present, American society has historically been less accepting of interracial relationships. As early as the 1600’s, legislation has been enacted to ban Black-White relationships and most of this legislation existed up until 1967. The last state to repeal these types of laws was Alabama, back in November of 2000 (JSPR 66). Even today, many researchers regard interracial relationships as “dysfunctional” and not relevant enough to study, even though there is little evidence to support such assumptions.
There are several different theories as to why couples get together including similarity, proximity, reciprocal attraction, mutual reinforcement, and misattribution of arousal. These are inherently seen in normal couples as well as those in interracial relationships. The most common difference between the two though is the introduction of the caste theory, a derivative of exchange theory. The theory suggests that someone of a certain ethnicity trades aspects of their ethnicity, based on their own social status, for a different resource, such as beauty or
I. Statement of the Problem
Interracial relationships have commonly been frowned upon by society and even illegal at times throughout the history of the world. The question that will be answered in this report is concerned with the broad spectrum of social problems and qualms with interracial relationships, and how members of interracial relationships overcome those problems.
II. Review of Literature
As controversial as interracial relationships and marriages are and have been, they are much understudied. One of the articles that were used even states that they are understudied and can’t give a valid explanation as to why. A recent as 1970, only approximately 1 out of 1000 marriages was interracial. By the early 21st century, there were approximately 1.6 million interracial or interethnic marriages, making up 3% of all marriages (JSPR 66).
Even though they have become more present, American society has historically been less accepting of interracial relationships. As early as the 1600’s, legislation has been enacted to ban Black-White relationships and most of this legislation existed up until 1967. The last state to repeal these types of laws was Alabama, back in November of 2000 (JSPR 66). Even today, many researchers regard interracial relationships as “dysfunctional” and not relevant enough to study, even though there is little evidence to support such assumptions.
There are several different theories as to why couples get together including similarity, proximity, reciprocal attraction, mutual reinforcement, and misattribution of arousal. These are inherently seen in normal couples as well as those in interracial relationships. The most common difference between the two though is the introduction of the caste theory, a derivative of exchange theory. The theory suggests that someone of a certain ethnicity trades aspects of their ethnicity, based on their own social status, for a different resource, such as beauty or
Cited: Lewis-Smith, Troy, and Laurenceau. Interracial and intraracial relationships: The search for differences in satisfaction, conflict, and attachment style. The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 2006. SAGE Publications.