Dating different social class

Let’s talk about inter-class relationships

Last summer, author Jon Birger published Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game , which essentially argues that today's dating market is suffering from a so-called " man shortage. While there are 5. The book raises some interesting questions about what we look for in a mate, as well as some alternative solutions for the marriage-minded among us. Apparently, if you're a lady who wants to put a ring on it, Silicon Valley is a single-man mecca. But Birger also suggests that this "man shortage" might result in a surprising trend: women dating outside their class and education levels. At face value, the suggestion that women date outside their class seems hopelessly old-fashioned, not to mention politically incorrect. After all, we're living in the 21st century, not in the highly stratified social world of Downton Abbey. However, the uncomfortable truth is we do gravitate to partners who have the most in common with us, which means we tend to date within our social classes and education levels. So what happens when modern singles venture outside their socioeconomic pools and engage in what Birger calls "mixed-collar dating"?

REGISTER TO VIEW

In our new Class Ceiling series , we unpack how class actually affects young people today — from our jobs, to the way we have sex, to our general experience of the world. Nice, but inoffensive and innocuous, like a nice bottle of wine or a scented candle. As she unwrapped the small, beautifully-wrapped gift and the glossy paper fell away, her heart simultaneously swelled and sank. Inside the little white box was a solid silver bangle that they'd had engraved for her. It was beautiful.

REGISTER TO VIEW

The growing chasm between America's rich and poor is shaping national politics, education, and even geography, as people increasingly segregate themselves into upper- and lower-class neighborhoods. Duke University sociology professor Jessi Streib wanted to understand how those class differences play out in our most intimate relationships, so she interviewed 32 couples in which one partner grew up "blue-collar" a child from a home headed by a high-school graduate and one grew up "white-collar" in a home headed by a college graduate , along with 10 couples in which both members grew up in the same class. Her new book, The Power of the Past , is an initial exploration into how these relationships play out. The most striking finding was that even after decades of marriage, most mixed-class couples were fundamentally different in ways that seemed tied to their upbringing. Vox asked Streib to explain how class looms over our romantic relationships, even when we don't realize it. Danielle Kurtzleben: How did you decide you wanted to study cross-class couples?

REGISTER TO VIEW

"I thought I was 'too good' to date Scott. I was wrong in every way."

I might find in the workplace. Fresh in a new city, I dated a mixed bag of guys from different backgrounds but, as someone who was working in a corporate job, the typical men I met were mostly those who were middle-class and posh. Men who worked in law or finance, for instance, came from money and led a fairly swish lifestyle. Early on, it became clear that classism would come into play; making dating even more of a minefield.

REGISTER TO VIEW

REGISTER TO VIEW