Interracial Marriages Proposal Essay Example
| Interracial Marriages | Proposal | | Tyler Smith | |
SOCI 381 12/10/2010
Introduction
To see a black man and a white woman walking down the street holding hands used to be unheard of. It was a relationship that, for the few who engaged in it, was kept as quiet as possible. During the fifties and sixties, interracial dating was not socially acceptable and there were repercussions for those who were involved in such behaviors because various laws, such as the Jim Crow laws, which kept the different races/ethnicities separate and it was seen as extremely socially deviant to go against these rules. Between 1970 and 2000, rates of interracial marriage increased more than seven-fold. Yet, little is known about the dating relationships between people of different races, particularly when it comes to analysis of who is most likely to become involved in such a relationship and for what reasons. Rates of interracial romantic relationships, especially interracial marriages, have often been seen as an indication of the social distance between racial and ethnic groups in a society (Vaquera and Kao 2007). Additionally, attitudes toward such relationships have been viewed as an indicator of the overall state of race relations (Yancey 2001). By this measure, it would seem apparent that the social distance between racial and ethnic groups has decreased markedly and the current status of race relations has sharply improved in the forty years since the Loving v. Virginia case declared laws prohibiting interracial marriage unconstitutional. Since the 1967 decision, the percentage of marriages that are between two people of different races or ethnicities has increased from 0.7% of all marriages in 1970, to 5.4% in 2000 (Lee and Edmunston 2005). Interracial dating and marriage are fairly new socially acceptable concepts that have been introduced into
SOCI 381 12/10/2010
Introduction
To see a black man and a white woman walking down the street holding hands used to be unheard of. It was a relationship that, for the few who engaged in it, was kept as quiet as possible. During the fifties and sixties, interracial dating was not socially acceptable and there were repercussions for those who were involved in such behaviors because various laws, such as the Jim Crow laws, which kept the different races/ethnicities separate and it was seen as extremely socially deviant to go against these rules. Between 1970 and 2000, rates of interracial marriage increased more than seven-fold. Yet, little is known about the dating relationships between people of different races, particularly when it comes to analysis of who is most likely to become involved in such a relationship and for what reasons. Rates of interracial romantic relationships, especially interracial marriages, have often been seen as an indication of the social distance between racial and ethnic groups in a society (Vaquera and Kao 2007). Additionally, attitudes toward such relationships have been viewed as an indicator of the overall state of race relations (Yancey 2001). By this measure, it would seem apparent that the social distance between racial and ethnic groups has decreased markedly and the current status of race relations has sharply improved in the forty years since the Loving v. Virginia case declared laws prohibiting interracial marriage unconstitutional. Since the 1967 decision, the percentage of marriages that are between two people of different races or ethnicities has increased from 0.7% of all marriages in 1970, to 5.4% in 2000 (Lee and Edmunston 2005). Interracial dating and marriage are fairly new socially acceptable concepts that have been introduced into