From Intermarriage to Conjugal Mixedness

AuthorBeate Collet
Date01 November 2015
Published date01 November 2015
DOI10.1177/0002716215595388
Subject MatterSection I: Intermarriage, Boundary Crossing, and Identity
ANNALS, AAPSS, 662, November 2015 129
DOI: 10.1177/0002716215595388
From
Intermarriage
to Conjugal
Mixedness:
Theoretical
Considerations
Illustrated by
Empirical Data
in France
By
BEATE COLLET
595388ANN The Annals of the American AcademyFrom Intermarriage to Conjugal Mixedness
research-article2015
Studies on intermarriage generally take for granted the
better integration of migrants, who married outside
their own group when settling into a host society.
Intermarriage, however, is a more complicated process
than that, however; calling it “conjugal mixedness”
stresses its intersectional quality and takes marital
norms, inequality between partners, and social disap-
proval into account. In this article, I give current trends
in French statistics, showing how important it is to
analyze separately men from women and migrants from
immigrant descendants. Conjugal mixedness is also
constructed in daily life within the family. Couples find
ways to deal with their differences: some adjust to the
majority or minority culture; others elaborate a “recip-
rocal intercultural exchange.” Integration is thus the
result of participation in social life, but in modern mul-
ticultural societies, integration also produces different
lifestyles.
Keywords: intermarriage; conjugal mixedness; inte-
gration; marital norms; intercultural
exchange
Transnational or so-called mixed marriages in
France and Europe are an interesting subject
for scientific study because they link family and
migration. Significantly, intermarriage lies at the
intersection between the private sphere—mate
selection, conjugal relations, and family transmis-
sions—and the public domain, where ethnic,
racial, and religious diversity defines our contem-
porary societies. In fact, intermarriage expresses
globalization in our private lives (Beck and Beck-
Gernsheim 2014). When ethno-cultural,1
Beate Collet is an associate professor in sociology since
1998, first at the University of Lyon and since 2007 at
University Paris-Sorbonne. She is a member of the
research unit GEMASS. Her research bears on migra-
tion, interethnic relations, mobility, and the family.
With Emmanuelle Santelli, she published Couples d’ici,
parents d’ailleurs (PUF 2012).
NOTE: Many thanks to my friend Gabrielle Varro,
sociologist, for her English translation and her careful
reading.
130 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
religious identifications, or national belonging differ, living together as a couple and
as a family is put to the test. This phenomenon can be named “conjugal mixedness.”
The couples concerned represent a double challenge: they have to deal with the ways
their choice is perceived by society at large and with endogamous norms in their
enlarged family circle on the one hand, and they need to find intercultural solutions
in their daily life on the other. Furthermore, they are a test for the notions of integra-
tion and cohesion in a democratic society.
How a mixed couple is perceived changes depending on the historical period
and national context, and all mixed configurations are not dealt with in the same
manner. Though in democratic societies such unions are no longer prohibited,
they continue to inspire dismay, disapproval, or curiosity. The subject reveals the
opposition between social control on the one hand and freedom of choosing one’s
partner on the other (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2014; Kalmijn 1998).
Studying mixed couples entangles us in the intricate fabric of modern society. It
turns out that individual, conjugal, and family choices are still made with respect to
collective rationales, first, at an intermediary level thanks to community ties—ethnic,
religious, regional, or social—that govern daily life to a greater or lesser extent
depending on the moment in history and the political context; and then in turn to the
logics of the State and the Nation, or even, at a supranational level, to those of the
European community. By going against the grain of these different community log-
ics, mixed couples are regarded with suspicion, but on the other hand they contribute
in making multicultural societies socially cohesive (Collet 1998).
This article develops a general concept of conjugal mixedness by bringing
theoretical considerations as well as empirical data, especially drawn from various
French surveys, into play. As a concept, conjugal mixedness aims to study the
social fact of “mixed couples” by going further than describing particular mixed
couples in specific national contexts. Then the article will take a closer look at
French statistical data to show the multifaceted nature of mixedness and how
difficult it is to ascertain the overall number of mixed couples in a country. Third,
the article develops a typology on mutual intercultural adjustment in daily life
bringing results from several qualitative surveys from France and elsewhere into
the picture.
How to Conceptualize “Conjugal Mixedness”
Before delving into the meanings underlying the concept—inequality on one side
and internal and external norms on the other—we must question the notions
conveyed by language itself. Which term should be used to describe the conjugal
situation that some call “mixed,” while others speak of “intermarriage”?
What term to choose?
Various overviews on the subject (Thode-Arora 1999; Varro 2003; Song 2009)
have shown that it is not really relevant to use overly precise adjectives, such as

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