Majority of people marry intraethnically, so according to Sung (1990, p. 347) interethnic marriages are not norm in people’s mind and interethnic couples may represent “unconventional and rebellious” characteristics. Interethnic relationships, especially couples with obvious physical difference, were treated as “inappropriate” in America (Gaines & Leaver, 2002, p. 65). Interethnic marriages were assumed to be less stable than intraethnic marriages, partly because intraethnic marriages were supposed to have less chance of misunderstanding and conflict, and more support from friends and families (Zhang & Van Hook, 2009). Sung (1990) found that people in non-
multicultural cities normally treated the social status of an interethnic couple as the social status of the partner with a lower status, and interethnic couples received more acceptance in the ethnic group of the partner with a lower status. The study of
adolescents by Wang et al. (2006) has found that those in interethnic relationships were much less likely to inform other people about their relationships than those in
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intraethnic relationships, which reflected the less social/family acceptance and support of interethnic relationships.
Black/White marriages were always treated negatively in both the United States and the United Kingdom (Phoenix & Owen, 1996). Before 1967, Black/White
marriages were not allowed by laws in the United States (Young, 1995). Back in 1959, a married couple of a Black American woman and a White American man were
sentenced to prison, the well-known case Loving v. Virginia, because interethnic marriages were prohibited by the law (Root, 1996). According to Davis (1941), there were 30 states in the United States banned interracial marriage around 1940s.
Specifically, in the state of Georgia, White people were not allowed to marry anyone who possessed an “‘ascertainable trace of either Negro, African, West Indian, Asiatic Indian, Mongolian, Japanese or Chinese blood in their veins’”; whereas in the rest states which did not ban interracial marriages, few such cases happened (ibid. p. 389).
Is the situation of Asian (Chinese) interethnic relationships similar as Black/White relationships? Although there were generally no laws prohibited Asian/White marriages, such relationships were not accepted by everyone (Mok, 1999). In the United Kingdom, about 50% of participants in a survey between 1983 and 1991 objected from a little to a great deal to interethnic marriages between their close kin and people with Asian or West Indian origin; and in 1991 31% of Whites, 39% of Asians, and 17% of Blacks agreed with that intraethnic marriages should be the only form of marriages in a public general opinion survey (Phoenix & Owen, 1996). Sung’s (1990) interviews of 50
Chinese interethnic couples in the New York City showed that uncomfortable stares and biased attitude from the society were only in a few occasions, and Chinese interethnic couples, especially Chinese/Black couples, were less accepted by Chinese people and people outside New York City.
Not only in the United States and the United Kingdom, but also in South African, people have negative attitudes toward interethnic marriages, as the existence of racial caste (an extreme case is Nazi Germany) (Davis, 1941). However, in multi-ethnic regions such as Hawaii and Brazil, interethnic marriages were not forbidden as racial caste did not exist (ibid).
Besides the objection of interethnic marriages from the society, there were also negative attitudes toward interethnic children (parents from different ethnicities), especially children of Black and White parents (Phoenix & Owen, 1996). The
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Although Lampe’s (1982) study on Black, Mexico and White American students’ attitude towards interethnic relationships showed that most believed the similar divorce rate between interethnic marriages and intraethnic marriages, and most would like to date/marry someone from a different ethnic group (a relatively higher percentage (37%) of White students believed White/Black marriages had a higher divorce rate but 43% of White students believed that White/Black marriages had a similar divorce rate as intraethnic marriages), Lampe (1982) suggested that young people might like to date/marry someone from a different ethnic group, but the society established a barrier for interethnic relationships.
Mass media may also influence people’s attitudes towards interethnic
relationships (Gaines & Liu, 2000), but to date, there were few movies on Chinese/non- Chinese relationships. To name a few, The World of Suzie Wong (1960), a Hollywood movie, mentioned by Gaines and Liu (2000) and narrated a relationship between a girl from Hong Kong and a White American male; Shanghai Kiss (2007), a love story between a Chinese American male and a White American girl. Compared to the majority movies on intraethnic relationships, interethnic love stories on the screen are very rare, indicating that intraethnic couples are the mainstream and interethnic couples are still the minority.
It seems that the society generally views interethnic relationships as problematic and not preferable. Some views may explain such negative attitudes. Merton (1941) looked at interethnic marriage as inter-caste relationships and people from lower caste were not normally considered to be attractive although democracy and romantic love, which could transcend caste difference, were very popular in the United States. This was because romantic love and democracy were only allowed within a caste, so people from different caste would have less chance to form close relationships; and when relationships within the same caste were promoted, it could strengthen the group and maintain family stability (ibid). It was not surprising for the society’s views on interethnic relationships as problematic, as According to Tseliou and Eisler (2007), ethnic stereotypes often operated in a way that people over-generalise some
characteristics to the whole ethnic group and not paying attention to the diversity within each ethnic group, and people tended to treat their own ethnic group as very different from other ethnic groups with bias. Gaines and Ickes (1997) explained that within group interaction would enhance “social stability”, whereas intergroup interaction would enhance “social change”, which would negatively affect ingroup members’ security (p.
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202); and ingroup interaction could secure the gene to be passed to the following generations, so that they could “position themselves within status hierarchies”, which was essential for human beings to survive (p. 201). Fang, Sidanius, and Pratto (1998) found that asymmetry existed between different status of ethnic groups on relations between “social dominance orientation” (p.291) and attitudes against interethnic marriage, which means people from higher status ethnic groups with strong idea of keeping the hierarchical relations between different ethnic groups would object more to interethnic marriages involving a partner from a lower status ethnic group than people from lower status ethnic groups with strong idea of keeping the hierarchical relations between different ethnic groups object to interethnic marriages involving a partner from a higher status ethnic group.
In recent years, due to the increasing rate of interethnic marriages, people have more open attitudes towards interethnic marriages; however, majority of people still choose their spouse in the same ethnic group. Intraethnically married/dating couples may have more negative view on interethnic marriages than interethnically
married/dating couples. Chan and Wethington (1998) suggested that less family support might cause the more likelihood of interethnic divorce, because there were less family opposition of divorce over interethnic marriages. However there are still couples who have overcome the obstacles from the society and other pressures (such as pressures due to history), and continue staying together (Gaines & Liu, 2000).