Effect of hypogamy on lifestyle in Poland
Abstract
The increase in educational hypogamy in Poland, i.e., a situation where wives have higher education than their husbands, modifies marriage selection patterns. This may influence cultural preferences, status hierarchy and the dynamics of family relations. The aim of this article is to examine whether educational hypogamy affects the lifestyle of spouses, understood as cultural preferences and patterns of prestige, and whether it is stronger than the effect of hypergamy. The analysis is based on data from a nationwide survey conducted in 2019. It shows that educational hypogamy increases the chances of liking and impressing with goods considered status symbols. Importantly, its impact is stronger than that of hypergamy. The hypothesis that hypogamy and hypergamy have a relatively equal impact on individuals’ attitudes is not confirmed. These findings lead to the conclusion that educational hypogamy can both weaken class barriers and generate tensions resulting from the inconsistency of the spouses’ status. One can assume that educational hypogamy affects also other aspects of spousal relations related to family functioning that need be research.
Keywords:
educational hypogamy, education of spouses, prestigeReferences
Atkinson, M.P., Greenstein, T.N., & Lang, M.M. (2005). For Women, Breadwinning Can Be Dangerous: Gendered Resource Theory and Wife Abuse. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(5), 1137–1148. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00206.x
Bendix, R., & Lipset, S.M. (1964). Ruchliwość społeczna w społeczeństwie przemysłowym (A. Gella, Tłum.). Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Bennett, T., Savage, M., Silva, E.B., Wright, D., Gayo-Cal, M., & Warde, A. (2009). Culture, Class, Distinction. Routledge.
Bertrand, M., Pan, J., & Kamenica, E. (2015). Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(2), 571–614.
Bourdieu, P. (2022). Dystynkcja. Społeczna krytyka władzy sądzenia (P. Biłos, Tłum.). Scholar.
Chan, T.W., & Goldthorpe, J.H. (2007). Social Stratification and Cultural Consumption: Music in England. European Sociological Review, 23(1), 1–19.
Coulangeon, P., & Duval, J. (Red.). (2015). The Routledge Companion to Bourdieu’s Distinction. Routledge.
De Hauw, Y., Grow, A., & Van Bavel, J. (2017). The Reversed Gender Gap in Education and Assortative Mating in Europe. European Journal of Population, 33, 445–474.
Daenekindt, S., & Roose, H. (2014). Social Mobility and Cultural Dissonance. Poetics, 42, 82–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2013.11.002
Domański, H., Przybysz, D., Wyrzykowska, K., & Zawadzka, K. (2021). Dystynkcje muzyczne. Stratyfikacja muzyczna i gusty muzyczne Polaków. Scholar.
Domański, H., Przybysz, D., Wyrzykowska, K., & Zawadzka, K. (2025). Educational, and Social Class Marital Homogamy in Poland: 1977–2019 [niepublikowany maszynopis].
Erikson, R., & Goldthorpe, J.H. (1992) The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies. Oxford University Press.
Esteve, A., Schwartz, C.R., van Bavel, J., Permanyer, I., Klesment, M., & García-Román, J. (2016).
The End of Hypergamy: Global Trends and Implications. Population and Development Review, 42(4), 615–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12012
Fujihara, S., & Uchikoshi, F. (2019). Declining Association with Persistent Gender Asymmetric Structure: Patterns and Trends in Educational Assortative Marriage in Japan, 1950–1979. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 60, 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2018.12.001
Henz, U., & Mills, C. (2018). Social Class Origin and Assortative Mating in Britain, 1949–2010. Sociology, 52(6), 1217–1236. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385177264792015
Houle, J.N. (2011). The Psychological Impact of Intragenerational Social Class Mobility. Social Science Research, 40(3), 757–772.
Mare, R.D. (2016). Educational Homogamy in Two Gilded Ages: Evidence from Intergenerational Social Mobility Data. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 663, 117–139.
Nieuwbeerta, P., de Graaf, N.D., & Ultee, W. (2000). The Effects of Class Mobility on Class Voting in Post-War Western Industrialized Countries. European Sociological Review, 16(4), 327–348.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J.M. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415
Projekt badawczy „Dystynkcje Muzyczne” (b.d.). Pobrane 9 grudnia 2018 z: http://www.md.ifispan.pl/
Schumpeter, J.A. (1951). Imperialism and Social Classes (H. Norden, Tłum.). Augustus M. Kelley, Inc.
Sobel, M.E. (1981). Diagonal Mobility Models: A Substantively Motivated Class of Designs for the Analysis of Mobility Effects. American Sociological Review, 46(6), 893–906.
Sorokin, P.A. (2009). Ruchliwość społeczna (J. Słomczyńska, Tłum.). Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN.
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology
Prof. dr hab., Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open access journal.
Beginning with Issue 1/2024, all texts published under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 licence.
The texts in Issues from 3/2018 to 4/2023 are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
For aricles till 2/2018 your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation – see: Ustawa z dnia 4 lutego 1994 r. o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych.
