Marriage and Culture Around the World: Marrying Someone from a Different Race, Religion, or Nationality

Abstract

In <i>Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity</i>, Goffman (1963) alluded to the “tribal stigmas” of race, religion, and nationality that may (1) carry important social psychological implications for individuals who are devalued along one or more of those dimensions and (2) affect the social and psychological experiences of those individuals’ relationship partners. To what extent are the “tribal stigmas” in question, whether reflecting individuals’ race (i.e., presumed biological heritage) and/or individuals’ religion and nationality (i.e., “faith-based” and “state-based” aspects of presumed cultural heritage, respectively), relevant to the establishment, maintenance, and potential dissolution of contemporary marriages, in the era of the global village? The present chapter will address marriage and ethnicity around the world by surveying available research and evaluating the usefulness of Goffman’s (1959) interactionist role theory – integrated with Thibaut and Kelley’s (1959; Kelley, 1979; Kelley & Thibaut, 1978), within Mead’s (1934/1967) social behaviourism – in light of current trends.