Intermarriage and Social Distance Among U.S. Immigrants at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

The pattern of assortative mating among European immigrants and native whites is examined by ethnicity and generation using a national sample drawn from the 1910 census manuscripts and a sample of marriages registered in New York City between 1908 and 1912. The pattern of assortative mating is virtually identical in the two data sets. Endogamy was strong for all groups examined, but was castelike for the "new" ethnics from eastern and southern Europe. Marriages between "old" and "new" ethnics were especially rare. The pattern of ethnic intermarriage was nearly identical for men and women. Within ethnic groups there was also strong generational endogamy: immigrants tended to marry other immigrants and second-generation ethnics tended to marry others in the second generation. While the existence of ethnic and generational endogamy at the turn of the century is not surprising, its strength has not previously been estimated with appropriate statistical techniques. Further, these techniques reveal more detailed features of the pattern of assortative mating that are not well known and provide important facts for theories of immigrant assimilation and assortative mating.