Kalmijn, M. (2010). Educational inequality, homogamy, and status exchange in Black-White intermarriage: A comment on Rosenfield. American Journal of Sociology, 115(4), 1252–1263. https://doi.org/10.1086/649050

The author comments on Michael J. Rosenfeld’s article “A Critique of Exchange Theory in Mate Selection” (2005).

The author explains that Rosenfeld’s article offers a serious and well-thought-out attempt to critique the hypothesis, both theoretically and empirically. Rosenfeld concludes that status exchange is impossible. He also claims that in mixed-race couples, homogamy is more important than exchange. In his article, Rosenfeld may have misled readers into believing that complex and simple models should always yield the same results.

Kalmijn agrees that Rosenfeld correctly points out that loglinear models can be difficult to understand for non-technical readers and their complexity may have turned off some of the original audience. Rosenfeld argues that racial differences in educational homogamy must be considered. If Rosenfeld means this, he is probably correct. Contrary to expectations, educational homogamy is weaker in these couples.