Effects of Early U.S. Compulsory Education Laws on Assortative Mating: Education, Race, and Region

• In Event: 079 - Regular Session. Sociology of Education: Comparative and Historical Approaches

Abstract

Modernization theory predicts rising education should increase assortative mating by education and decrease sorting by race. In contrast, the economic inequality hypothesis suggests compulsory laws could weaken educational assortative mating by reducing returns to education. Using log-linear and log multiplicative models of 1940 U.S. census data, the first census with educational attainment information, I investigate educational and racial assortative mating effects of early compulsory attendance laws. Aggregate results suggest compulsory laws had minimal impact on assortative mating. However, separate analyses by region reveal that the laws decreased assortative mating by both education and race in the South, but increased sorting by both in the North. Complicating existing theories, results suggest the impact of educational expansion is similar on educational and racial homogamy but varies by region.

Author

• Emily Rauscher, University of Kansas