Determinants of Religious Intermarriage: Are Jews Really Different?

Publication Date: January 1997

Publisher: Institute of Contemporary Jewry

Author(s): Carmel Ullman Chiswick

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: Religion; Family; Marriage

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This paper is devoted to improving our understanding of the environment within which American Jews make their marital choice decisions, focussing on the relationship between Jewish outmarriage and marital stability. The first part develops those aspects of the economic theory of marriage that affect religious intermarriage. The second part places the Jewish experience in the context of American religious pluralism, summarizing the evidence for other American religions and considering ecumenism as a factor in Jewish outmarriage. The third part concludes with a summary of findings and their implications for the American Jewish community.

In Jewish Population Studies 27 (Papers in Jewish Demography, 1993), 247-257.