Interracial marriage and family socio-economic well-being: Equal status exchange or caste status exchange?

Minorities outmarried to Whites are often assumed to exchange their higher achieved status for an ascribed racial status. This study challenges this traditional exchange perspective by examining three SES measures (education, job prestige and income), using census 2000 PUMS data. Findings indicate that couples have similar statuses in all types of marriages, either endogamous or exogamous, and there is no evidence of status-caste exchange in intermarriage to Whites, except in Asian husband–White wife marriages in income (not in education or job prestige). Equal status exchange in intermarriages, however, may have stratified racial groups, especially for Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Hispanics. Intermarriage thus widens gaps of inequality between endogamous minorities and endogamous Whites through equal status exchange between spouses.