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Greedy for who : unequal networks based on interracial marriage Matsushita, Brett Kenzo

Abstract

How can race and marriage potentially alter our ethnic friendships? The idea of marriage being related to the construction of interdependent networks have been supported by concepts such as dyadic withdrawal and greedy institutions. After marriage, an individual's personal networks increasingly overlap with their partner. Interracial relationships have unique dynamics which could alter the strength of these relationships (Osuji, 2019). Through the use of the Ethnic Diversity Survey, I examined the relationship between co-ethnic friendship and interethnic marriage. Through the multi-layered analysis, it is revealed that interethnic marriages are related to a decrease in co-ethnic friendship composition. More importantly, visible minorities who are married to non-minorities saw a decrease in likelihood of having a co-ethnic friendship composition when compared to other groups; while non-minorities who are married to visible minorities saw an increase in likelihood of having a co-ethnic friendship composition. These findings reveal how current theoretical approaches such as greedy institutions are insufficient in understanding the interdependence of friendship networks.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International