Chapter 26 Further Reading: Class, Status, and Mate Value

Foundational Works

Becker, G. S. (1991). A Treatise on the Family (enlarged ed.). Harvard University Press. The canonical economic analysis of marriage, household formation, and assortative mating. Dense but influential. Best read selectively — Chapter 4 on assortative mating is most relevant here. Becker's framework is worth engaging with directly before reading the critiques.

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard University Press. Bourdieu's analysis of how cultural capital and taste operate as class markers. The concept of habitus is elaborated throughout. Not specifically about dating, but provides the theoretical infrastructure for understanding how class performance and cultural capital function in courtship. Challenging reading; the introduction and Part II are the best entry points.

Core Research

Schwartz, C. R., & Mare, R. D. (2005). Trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003. Demography, 42(4), 621–646. The definitive longitudinal study of educational homogamy in the U.S. Essential reading for understanding the magnitude and trajectory of the trend.

Streib, J. (2015). The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages. Oxford University Press. Qualitative interview data with couples who come from different class backgrounds. Illuminates the habitus mismatches and practical frictions that class difference creates in intimate relationships. Humane and specific — one of the best books on this topic.

Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles. American Psychologist, 54(6), 408–423. The definitive statement of social role theory as an alternative to evolutionary accounts of gender differences in mate preferences. The cross-national evidence on how preferences change with gender equality is compelling.

Broader Context

Putnam, R. D. (2015). Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Simon & Schuster. Putnam's accessible account of growing class segregation across American social life, including marriage and family formation. Essential for understanding educational homogamy in its broader social context.

Illouz, E. (2012). Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation. Polity Press. Illouz's analysis of how market logic and consumer culture colonize romantic life. Her concept of "cold intimacies" is directly relevant to the dating app discussion in this chapter. More accessible than her earlier work (Consuming the Romantic Utopia).

On Intersectionality

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. The foundational statement of intersectionality as an analytic framework. Not specifically about dating, but provides the theoretical grounding for understanding why single-axis accounts of race or class consistently fail.

Collins, P. H. (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (2nd ed.). Routledge. Chapters 4–6 are particularly relevant for understanding how race, class, and gender intersect in controlling images and their effects on who is desirable and who is not.