An interracial marriage is the marriage between two people who are from different racial groups. It is also known as mixed marriage, biracial or multiracial marriage. Interracial marriage is a form of exogamy which is the custom of marrying someone from another geographical area, social group, family, clan or tribe. The term miscegenation is also used to refer to interracial marriage ...
An interracial marriage is the marriage between two people who are from different racial groups. It is also known as mixed marriage, biracial or multiracial marriage. Interracial marriage is a form of exogamy which is the custom of marrying someone from another geographical area, social group, family, clan or tribe. The term miscegenation is also used to refer to interracial marriage and interracial sex as well as cohabitation and procreation of different racial groups. The marriage between members of different cultural backgrounds is called intercultural marriage.
Throughout history, interracial marriages have been banned and restricted because certain nations, like Germany during the Nazi period and South Africa under apartheid, promoted the concept of racial purity. Until 1967, the majority of states in the United States had laws against interracial marriage aiming at separation of the races. These laws declared marriages between Caucasians and African Americans illegal. The first anti-miscegenation law in the United States was passed in the state of Maryland as early as 1664 and by the 1700s a total of six states had enacted laws prohibiting all nonwhite groups, including blacks, native Americans, and Asians, from marrying whites. Between 1942 and 1967 certain states decided to legalize interracial marriages but officially it was the 1967 Supreme Court ruling which made it unconstitutional for states to ban interracial marriages. As a result the number of interracial marriages has increased significantly following that decision.
Interracial marriages in the United States have increased since 1970 not only because of the changes in attitudes and legal status, but also due to immigration. For example, Hispanics and Asians are the predominant groups of immigrants, therefore, interracial marriages between whites and Asians and whites and Hispanic increased. Decline in societal prejudices also played a role in the growth in black-white marriages in particular, because it increased socialization between the groups and improved race relations. However, interracial marriages are more common for some racial groups than they are for others. For instance, in the United States Japanese Americans and Native Americans marry most frequently outside their racial groups.
Another explanation for the growth in interracial marriages is the rising age at marriage. The more people postpone settling down, the more different kinds of people they meet. Individuals are exposed to a vast diversity of potential partners after college when they have more opportunities to travel or work abroad. In addition, marriages at a later age are less influenced by parental control and opinion about their children's choice of partner.</font>
The barriers that couples in interracial marriages encounter are usually connected with negative societal attitudes. Because of the rising number of interracial unions, some people are concerned that distinct racial groups may disappear in the future. This is the case with Asian Americans who fear that interracial marriages reduce the pool of eligible candidates who can engage in same-culture marriages. The more Asian-American women are marrying outside their racial group, the more Asian-American men remain unmarried because the number of single Asian-American women decreases. Similar concerns are also common among the African-American population. As a result of increased levels of education and income, out-marriages among African Americans increase at the expense of same-race unions.
Interracial marriages are also influenced by different racial traditions, ethics and values concerning the individual, family and social lifestyle, thus c