Today’s college students see no problem with multiracial relationshipsPosted in Articles, Campus Life, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2015-01-09 18:53Z by Steven |
Today’s college students see no problem with multiracial relationships
Aja Frost
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Had Kim Kardashian and Kanye West gotten married 48 years ago, they would have probably been met with more policemen than paparazzi. That’s because interracial marriages weren’t legalized in the U.S. until 1967.
Interracial relationships are more common than ever. In 1960, just 0.4% of marriages were interracial. A recent study found that number had increased to 15% for newlyweds.
Nowhere is the growing acceptance and practice of multiracial relationships more common than on college campuses.
“Younger people aren’t tied down with all the old racial stereotypes,” says Dr. Erica Chito-Childs, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York City and author of two books on interracial marriage. “They’re more likely to have grown up with a favorite musical entertainer [who] is African-American or of a different race. They’ve grown up watching shows or cartoon shows that are multiracial. And depending on where they live, they’ve probably gone to school with friends that are of a different race.”…
…A survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 43% of all Americans believe the rise in intermarriages has been a good thing. However, among 18- to 29-year-olds, a majority 61% approve of interracial marriage and 93% favor multiracial dating. The approval for multiracial marriages rises in accordance with college education levels.
But Dr. Chito-Childs cautions against getting too excited about the statistics surrounding multiracial relationships…
Read the entire article here.