Gender and American Jews: Patterns in Work, Education, and Family in Contemporary Life

10. Intermarriage and Gendered Patterns of Secular Achievement

c h a p t e r 1 0 Intermarriage and Gendered Patterns of Secular Achievement Perhaps the most direct test of the integration of American Jews into the broader population is intermarriage. It might be expected that Jews married to non-Jews would be less differentiated from the broader U.S. society in a number of ways, and there is no reason to expect that secular achievement and patterns of gender difference would be exceptional in this respect. Intermarried Jews are typically less invested in their Jewish ethnic or religious capital than are other Jews (cf. Phillips and Fishman, 2006), and their social capital clearly extends beyond Jewish social circles. Their pool for marriage partners extends beyond Jews to the larger pool of nonJews ,1 and from the evidence we have in the National Jewish Population Survey, supported by qualitative studies, this often is a persistent pattern since childhood: intermarried Jews are more likely than intramarried Jews to have had a non-Jewish parent, to say that their closest high school friends included non-Jews, and to have had less positive interactions in Jewishoriented social environments (Phillips and Fishman, 2006). Seeking, or being willing to accept, a non-Jewish marriage partner might reflect putting economic considerations above cultural or religious considerations , especially if the Jewish spouse has an occupational status that differs from that of the majority of American Jews. Status harmonization has been found to be a motivation for switching to a different religious denomination (Sherkat and Wilson, 1995; Wilson, 1966) and also for endogamy or intermarriage (O’Leary and Finnas, 2002). As the boundaries between Jews and non-Jews become blurred (Alba, 2006), however, status differences between the intermarried and the intramarried may also narrow. Kalmijn (1994) found that economic homogamy is a more important factor than cultural homogamy for individuals who are older when they marry, and as we will see later in this chapter, intermarriages occur more often when the man and/or woman is older (either as later first marriages 230 intermarriage and gendered patterns 231 or remarriages). This may be a variant of “trading up” in remarriage—that is, giving up cultural homogamy for higher economic status or economic homogamy. Once one has intermarried, social contacts and knowing how to get along among non-Jews (to the extent that this differs from getting along with Jews) provide social capital that might prove fruitful for getting a job or promotion, resulting in different occupational patterns and even rewards. In this chapter we consider the differences in the secular achievement of Jewish men and women who are intermarried from those who are intramarried and consider whether patterns of gender equality differ as well. education and intermarriage Jews who have married non-Jews do not differ significantly from Jews who have married Jews in terms of their education (Table 10.1). Similar proportions have college degrees, graduate degrees, and doctoral or professional degrees. The slightly higher percentages of women with doctoral or professional degrees among intermarried women may well be attributed to the older average age of intramarried women. It certainly is not the case that the intermarried are more similar to the broader U.S. population than are the intramarried in this respect. family behavior and intermarriage In terms of family behavior, we see certain differences between intramarried and intermarried American Jews (Table 10.2). Men and women who are intermarried were married (first marriage) at an older age than were intramarried Jews. Fishman’s interviews with intermarried couples suggests that, for some, marriage was postponed because of the religious differences Table 10.1 Educational Attainment of Married American Jews (Ages 25–64), by Intermarriage and Gender Men Women Jewish Non-Jewish Jewish Non-Jewish Education spouse spouse spouse spouse B.A.+ (%) 69.0 69.2 59.5 60.6 Graduate degrees (%) 37.3 35.4 26.1 29.2 Ph.D., professional degree (%) 14.5 14.5 4.3 7.4 (n)a (582) (283) (731) (263) aUnweighted n in parentheses; calculations performed using person-weights provided with dataset. Table 10.2 Family Characteristics of Intramarried and Intermarried American Jews and Non-Hispanic Whites (Ages 35–64), by Gender Men Women U.S. non-Hispanic U.S. non-Hispanic Family characteristic Intramarried Intermarried whites Intramarried Intermarried whites Age at first marriage (mean) 26.2 28.5 22.4 24.3 25.7 20.2 Married more than once (%) 20.0...