Kalmijn (CP):
1) What is the difference between homogamy and endogamy? Between heterogamy and exogamy?
2) Why is the question of who marries whom of interest to sociologists?
3) Why might intermarriage and divorce be related? Should this relationship be stronger or weaker depending on the dimension of intermarriage (e.g., age, race, religion, education, etc.)?
4) Considering the theoretical framework for understanding patterns of intermarriage, how might we explain or understand the increasing tendency for educational homogamy among highly educated men and women in the U.S?
5) Why might we observe a high degree of homogamy on socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., education, occupation, class) even if these characteristics do not really play an important role in souse/partner selection decisions?
6) Why might educational homogamy be inversely related to homogamy on other dimensions?
7) At a very simple level, why are racially homogamous marriages more likely among whites than among blacks?
8) If you wanted to study patterns of religious intermarriage in the Madison area, why would it be better to focus your efforts on recently married couples rather than trying to get information about a more representative sample of couples?
9) Knowing that x% of whites are married to other whites doesn't really tell us much about the strength of preference for homogamous marriage among whites. Why not?
10) Why is it that homogamous marriage is so prevalent among groups at either end of the socioeconomic spectrum?
11) What are some of the important trends in socioeconomic intermarriage? What explanations are offered for these trends?
12) Why is it so important that sociologists try to focus on multiple dimensions of spouse pairing simultaneously?