The choice of a husband or the choice of a wife is the most important decision in a person's life. Why do most people choose a partner?
Surprisingly, people tend to ignore personality traits when selecting a spouse. There are three overwhelmingly important factors in partner selection: politics, education and class, and, for the religious, religion. See J.Alford et al. (2011). These three factors are highly correlated between couples even before they are married.
I was surprised that politics was so important in the selection of a spouse, being especially prominent in those towards the socialist end of the political spectrum such as Democrats. However, as religion loses its grip it is probably the next best determinant of lifestyle choice. Given that marriage can become a "folie a deux" it is not surprising that socialists put a lot of effort into ensuring that education and further education instil a socialist message.
Both women and men are as likely to marry "above" or "below" their class as each other but are most likely to marry within their class. See Raum et al. (2007). In the US and UK women in high earning couples work outside the home less and earn less than might be expected. They appear to focus on managing domestic affairs more frequently than Nordic women. This could create serious resentments in US and UK women if they are not crystal clear about their choice of home above career.
The other important result of the way couples marry within a given income potential is that it exaggerates absolute* income differences within society if both members of a couple are working.
POLITICAL THOUGHTS click here to see the whole POLITICAL THOUGHTS magazine!
See also:
Spousal concordance in academic achievements and IQ: A principal component analysis. (2011). Yue Pan and Ke-Sheng Wang
Marital Sorting, Household Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Earnings Mobility across Countries. (2007). Raum et al..
The Politics of Mate Choice. (2011) J.Alford et al.
*(If a single person earns 50,000 and another single person earns 20,000 the difference in household income is 30,000, for couples it would be 60,000).
Surprisingly, people tend to ignore personality traits when selecting a spouse. There are three overwhelmingly important factors in partner selection: politics, education and class, and, for the religious, religion. See J.Alford et al. (2011). These three factors are highly correlated between couples even before they are married.
I was surprised that politics was so important in the selection of a spouse, being especially prominent in those towards the socialist end of the political spectrum such as Democrats. However, as religion loses its grip it is probably the next best determinant of lifestyle choice. Given that marriage can become a "folie a deux" it is not surprising that socialists put a lot of effort into ensuring that education and further education instil a socialist message.
Both women and men are as likely to marry "above" or "below" their class as each other but are most likely to marry within their class. See Raum et al. (2007). In the US and UK women in high earning couples work outside the home less and earn less than might be expected. They appear to focus on managing domestic affairs more frequently than Nordic women. This could create serious resentments in US and UK women if they are not crystal clear about their choice of home above career.
The other important result of the way couples marry within a given income potential is that it exaggerates absolute* income differences within society if both members of a couple are working.
POLITICAL THOUGHTS click here to see the whole POLITICAL THOUGHTS magazine!
See also:
Spousal concordance in academic achievements and IQ: A principal component analysis. (2011). Yue Pan and Ke-Sheng Wang
Marital Sorting, Household Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Earnings Mobility across Countries. (2007). Raum et al..
The Politics of Mate Choice. (2011) J.Alford et al.
*(If a single person earns 50,000 and another single person earns 20,000 the difference in household income is 30,000, for couples it would be 60,000).
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