The educational system as a marriage market : a longitudinal analysis of marriage in the life course

摘要

"In this paper, spouse selection in the life course of single German men and women is reconstructed step by step and marriage behavior of a series of birth cohorts in the last 50 years is compared. The study primarily concerns the way in which young men and women pool their educational resources at their first marriage. It becomes apparent that in the course of educational expansion in West Germany the educational system constitutes an increasingly important marriage market. From birth cohort to birth cohort intragenerational educational assortative mating has considerably increased, strongly indicating that social structure and social circles have become more exclusive rather than inclusive in the process of modernization."