Since the mid-1960s, black/white interracial marriage rates in the United States have increased
rapidly. Although such marriages are still only a small fraction of total marriages,
their prevalence continues to grow. This rise has renewed interest among social scientists
in classic theories which attempt to understand how the context of interracial unions affects
matching on other status characteristics.
Various theories of interracial marriage patterns have been developed, and these theories
have been implemented in empirical research using an equally-wide variety of methods. While
most researchers have developed their own theories and methods in contrast to other research,
there has been little explicit comparison between competing models. In the research outlined
here, I develop log-linear models from various theoretical perspectives and compare them
using a consistent data source and consistent methodological techniques. The results suggest
that educational homogamy fails to capture important patterns in interracial unions, and
that these patterns are best captured not by the prominent caste-status exchange theory but
by a model which emphasizes the isolation of lower-class blacks.