Japanese American Ethnicity: The Persistence of Community

8. Intermarriage

130 EIGHT Intermarriage In the three preceding chapters we have shown that Japanese Americans , by and large, have been able to build bridges to the majority group, establishing many kinds of contacts with Caucasians without destroying their ethnic community life. One might argue, however, that with the exception of the "best friends" measure, most of the evidence about ties to mainstream society that we have examined has involved a relatively low level of intimacy. Given the fact, as reported earlier, that Japanese Americans are increasingly intermarrying with Caucasians (Kitano et at, 1984), the critical question is: can the current relationship between structural assimilation and involvement in the ethnic community continue when more intimate forms of contact with the majority group are involved? In this chapter we will examine the effects ofintermarriage on ethnic community participation and attempt to project what may be its consequences. To gain some sense ofperspective on both the current rate ofintermarriage and its future consequences for ethnic community cohesiveness, it is helpful first to look at what intermarriage rates were like before World Warn. Intermarrioge 13 [ CHANGING RATES Of INTERMARRIAGE Before World War II, Japanese American communities were, in many ways, socially and economicaUy self-sufficient. This was the product of both widespread discrimination and the group's collectivistic adaptational strategies. By and large, they were occupationally segregated. somewhat residentially segregated. and usually. except in certain elementary schools in the Sacramento area. educationally integrated. Socially, their intimate friends were almost entirely otherJapanese Americans, and most oftheir organizational involvements were with fellow ethnics. The antimiscegenation laws in force in California from 1905 to 1948 made it illegal for the Japanese to intermarry. During the World War II internment years, the Nisei, whose average age at the time ofevacuation was nineteen. were physically prevented from meeting members of the opposite sex from other ethnic and racial groups. Given these barriers. it is not surprising that Issei and Nisei intermarriage was an infrequent event. It is estimated that Issei men in California had an intermarriage rate of approximately 2 percent and Nisei men approximately 4 percent (Spickard, 1980). The Nisei rate was substantially lower than the approximately 20 percent intermarriage rate ofsecond generation European ethnics (Spickard, 1980). By the late 1970S, however, intermarriage among the third generation Sansei had jumped to about 60 percent of all new marriages. including so percent with non-Asians (Kitano et al., 1984). Table 8:1 shows the inmarriage-outmarriage ratio for our sample.* The intermarriage ratio for the Sansei is not nearly as high as the rates reported elsewhere. There are several reasons for this. Most ofthe other studies include Japanese women, who historically have outmarried at a higher rate than men. Moreover, our study includes Sansei men who married during the 1900s, when the intermarriage rate was lower. The much higher rates reported by Kitano et al. (1984) and others (Endo and *These figures refer to intermarriage ratios rather than to intermarriage rates. Sklare (196-f:46-S:.l) dJstinguishes between intermarriage rates, whkh refer to new cases ofmtermarriage in a given year, and intermarriage ratios. which refer to the total number of intermarriages in an ethnk or rdigious group, orsome subset ofit, over time. The intermarmge rate among the Sansei generation ofJapanese Amencans. as previously noted, is about 60 percent ofall new marriages, includmg SO percent with non-Asians, (Kitano et al.• (984). but the intermarriage ratio, which we are reporting here, is much lower because it covers a much longer period. even when its point ofreference is a smgle generation. 132 Intermarriage TABLE 8: 1. Males Inmarried and Outmarried, by Generation (N = 490). Inmarried Ou/married Generation % N % N Nisei 93·6 264 6·4 18 Sansei 74·5 15) 25·) 53 Total sample 85·, 419 14· 5 71 TABLE 8:2. Intermarriage by Area for Married Sansei (N;:::: 192). Area Gardena Sacramento Fresno Total Married Sansei (%j (%) (''10) ("!o) N Intermarried 10.0 30.3 24. 2 21.9 Not intermarried 90·0 69·7 75.8 78.1 K' (2) "" 7·9II, P X· (r, N = 490) "" 2.16, p "" n.s. Intermarriage 137 7· I % (351490) 5·3% (I 51282) 9·6% (201208) .08 .25 o The chi-square shows that there IS no significant difference in divorce rates ofNiseI and Sansei. b This ratIO is taken from Spamer and Glick (1981). TABLE 8:8. Percentage of Males Ever Divorced, by Generational and lnmarried-Outmarried...