The Importance Of Interracial Relationships

Traditionally, people have believed that when a person marries outside of their race, they do so as a way to escape from their race, culture, or traditional beliefs. In contrast, popular culture theorizes that interracial marriages are motivated not by a desire to leave behind one’s heritage, but by love between two people who happen to be of different races. In this paper, I seek to analyze and compare these two perspectives, proposing a theory that combines the two by accounting for a person’s upbringing and beliefs when deciding what their motivation may be. I first analyze the traditional belief of interracial marriage in comparison to the popular culture belief and present my theory combining the two. I then analyze the effect of dominant versus nondominant culture on motivations, and use examples from popular culture to look at the effect a person’s culture and upbringing can have their motivations for marriage. Lastly, I explain how my perspective will affect the way I live my life.

The community has a great impact on mate selection and family formation (McGoldrick, 1998). Molina et al., (2004) argue that communities serve as proxies for extended families in many societies and are extremely important in bringing intercultural couples together. People who are in intercultural relationship must understand that there will be challenges and obstacles from others that are against interracial or intercultural relationships. If the relationship is valuable to them then they will be able to over come adversity such as prejudice and discrimination and a host of other negative challenges they may occur.

One’s colour, religion and families origin should not interfere with the happiness between the couple. A publication by the University of Toronto Scarborough furthers this notion of love and relationships; yet explains there are many barriers and challenges which many interracial couples strive to overcome.

Using the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), Whites’ attitudes towards dating, cohabiting with, marrying, and having children with African Americans and Asian Americans was studied. It was found that 29% of White respondents reject all kinds of relationships with African Americans and Asian Americans, while 31% endorse them. Second, Whites are less willing to marry and start a family within an interracial relationship than to date interracially. These attitudes and behaviors are related to political conservatism, age, gender, education, and region. Third, White women are likely to approve of interracial relationships for other people but not for themselves. White men however, express more willingness to engage in such relationships

According to 2000 U.S. census, 2.4 % of the US population which report themselves as people who have two or more races. (United States). The number of interracial couples has reached to 1.6 million, which account for almost 4 % of U.S. marriages. ( Fletcher, par. 3 ). In a melting pot country like the United States, where immigration and emigration rates are high, inter-cultural marriage has become an inevitable by- product of mobility. Interracial marriage refers to a marriage which consists of couples with two different racial backgrounds. For example, a Chinese women married to an American. While the intermarried couples have to adapt their racial differences, their cultural background would assert a

With a steady rise in the acceptance of interracial couples over the past few decades, there is also an influx of interracial children (Collins 1984). As society becomes more open and lenient on the generalized idea of marriage, the stigma of interracial marriage in waning and becoming more widely accepted. This has caused some concern for some sociologists because there are many myths and commonly accepted “truths” over the success and acceptance of interracial children, not only in society but in their own homes (Collins 1984). In this article, Collins aimed to be as objective as one can be. She used data and statistics from the Census Bureau to help back up her arguments, but also noted that there was no category designated for interracial children, only interracial marriages (Collins 1984). Collins (1984) also used a multitude of polls, the more famous of them is known the Gallup Polls, to help rectify her claims. Though Collins does not directly address it, she inadvertently talks about the private and public aspects of family life and how both can affect the children of an interracial

While sitting in a small circle eating lunch, my friends and I somehow got onto the topic of dating. We all confessed who may or may not have our current attention and amongst my very diverse group of friends, one of them, a Hispanic, said she was interested in dating a white male. In response, another friend asked, “you like those white boys don’t you?”. It was a simple joke as all of my friends are open into interracial dating, but there are many people in American society who do not feel the same way. In fact, there are quite a lot of people who oppose interracial dating. This paper will discuss the topic of interracial dating amongst Whites (Caucasians), Blacks (anyone of African American descent), Asians (anyone of Asian descent),

An experimental design was used to determine if interracial dating impacts openness to other cultures. Researchers created vignettes of scenarios involving couples of different races with different backgrounds to create a manipulation to assess participants views. In addition, a quasi-experimental design evaluated the participants influences to date outside their race and analyze their openness to other cultures. Vignettes consisted of statements like Matthew is likely to be more attracted to African American women than White women, Dating outside of his race is probably a phase for Matthew that he will outgrow, and Dating outside of her race is probably a phase for Kendra that she will outgrow. Participants personal interracial and openness measures included statements like, I would never date outside of my race, I enjoy learning about cultures other than my own, I have a lot in common with Whites in the United States, and I have

Have one ever thought about getting harmed or given a hard time because of something one cannot help like your race, religion, or gender? Many people in this world are injured or attacked because of who or what they are. This is a hate crime. A hate crime is a violent act against people, property, or organizations because of a group to which they belong or identity with. This includes harassment, prejudice, and hate. Interracial relationships can cause people to judge a person because they date outside of their race.

Recent studies have proposed that the rate of acceptance for interracial relationships is increasing since the mid-twentieth century (Feliciano, 2009). However, it is still rare to witness intimate interactions between whites and minorities, in particular with African Americans, despite this upward trend. Most of the data demonstrating white people's rising relationship preferences with minorities is based on self report on internet dating sites, which calls into question if people are being completely truthful when responding to profile questionnaires (Feliciano, 2009). In this review, I will consider the research done by social psychologists suggesting that the increase in interracial relationship preferences is only due to the modern stigma of being seen as racist. Perhaps, it is the subconscious antagonistic feelings towards minorities that truly govern people's relationship

The two articles used were “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation” (Lewis, Ford- Robinson, 2010) and “Marital Dissolution among Interracial Couples” (Zhang, Van Hook, 2009). The first article “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation”, spoke about the unprecedented changes that our society is going though in the 21st century.

One in six newlyweds are intermarried to someone with a different race today, creating a more cultural environment

It is hard to believe that once upon a time people vehemently fought against interracial unions in some misguided endeavor to protect the sanctity of marriage. Not only were interracial marriages frowned upon, but until Loving versus Virginia in 1967, they were actually considered illegal in many states and were punishable with jail time (Justia). Despite all the initial opposition, in the last decade interracial marriages have been steadily increasing. According to the United States 2010 Census, interracial marriages have increased 28% since the year 2000. Now, one in twelve married couples is an interracial couple. Considering that race is socially constructed and that there is no biological evidence to prove that it otherwise is not, it is inspiring to see more and more couples disregard racial barriers and merely see the person rather than the color of their skin. It is disheartening, however, to see that Hollywood films have not taken a similar approach to adequately portray this impressive increase of interracial couples in the United States.

Interracial marriages have been a growing issue in our society. Some think that interracial marriages and relationships are socially wrong. Some believe that it harms children of mixed races because of the stares, discrimination, and being criticized. One should not have to feel the pain from being stared at or criticized, or discriminated against because of the color of skin or being with the one they love of a different race. The marriages and relationships that are interracial have multiplied within the past century. It is hard to believe that there used to be laws that banned interracial marriages. In years to come, interracial marriages and relationships will probably only become accepted in the world.

The law forbidding interracial marriage was terminated in 1967, and in the midst of rapid racial change, one fact is unmistakable: A growing number of Americans are showing that we all can get along by forming relationships and families that cross all color lines. In the past couple decades, the number of interracial marriages has increased dramatically. Interracial dating and marrying is described as the dating or marrying of two people of different races, and it is becoming much more common to do so. Thirty years ago, only one in every 100 children born in the United States was of mixed race. Today, the number is one in 19. In some states, such as California and Washington, the number is closer to one in 10 (Melting Pot).