Social Norms And Interracial Marriage

New cultural norms are changing our image of what the typical American family looks like. As same sex marriage becomes more of a norm, there are still other types of families that are seen as less standard than others. Interracial marriage has come a long way since it was legalized in 1967, but interracial couples still face a different set of challenges than many other families. Two articles that I feel really highlight the different spectrums of interracial marriage are noted in this paper. One of the articles from The New York Times highlights the personal and sometimes lesser known side of interracial marriage, while an article from The Washington Post offers a more macroscopic, quantitative approach. In the article titled “People” from …show more content…
The author interviews a number of interracial couples who detail specific moments in their lives when people revealed their hidden bias against such family structures. These anecdotes, which highlight the social norms experienced by interracial couples on a micro level, offer a glimpse into America’s sordid past regarding notions of traditional family structures. Laws prohibiting interracial marriage existed in the United States until they were struck down in the Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia. This article mainly talked about personal narratives of their racial biases whereas Benokraitis offers a much more macroscopic approach (Foster, 2016, 1). Much like same-sex marriage, approval of interracial marriage has been increasing among Americans the last few years, pointing to altering social norms regarding family units. The author cites a 2015 report from the Pew Research Center, in which 37 percent of Americans agreed that having more people marrying different races was good for society, an increase of 13 percent from four years earlier, while only 9 percent thought it was bad for society (Foster, 2016, p. 2). The author also points to varying trends regarding interracial relationships among different races, applying meso level analysis. This is meso level because it is discussing the institution …show more content…
These personal stories allow for a more personal connection to the effects of implicit bias interracial couples experience (Foster, 2016, p. 1). Kelly offered relatively little in the way of micro level analysis in her article, instead relying almost exclusively on statistics. Both authors rely extensively on meso analysis to strengthen their respective cases. Foster does so through her discussion of both the general institution of interracial relationships, and trends within different racial communities. Foster barely uses macro level analysis in her article, limited only to her brief discussion of the judicial history of interracial marriage. Kelly, however, discusses in much greater detail the legislative and judicial history of interracial marriage in the United States, offering a much more macroscopic view of the issue. The articles make similar points regarding America’s hidden bias against interracial marriage, but do so from contrasting perspectives. In both articles, they talked about hidden biases that people hold against interracial relationships. Both argue that although many people claim to be accepting of such relationships this may not often be the