Interracial Relationships Essay Research Paper Intercultural CommunicationGROUP

Interracial Relationships Essay, Research Paper

Intercultural Communication

GROUP TOPIC

Statistical data indicates that we are becoming a more integrated society everyday. Presently, in the U.S we have 1.3 million interracial marriages, and the number continues to rise (Newsweek, p.38). For our multicultural group presentation, my group, Imagine, choose to study interracial relationships in America. We wanted to determine how many adult Americans had been in an interracial relationship. We also wanted to know if this past dating history was influential in determining if someone would marry someone outside his or her race. By surveying a random sample of seventy people in the San Fernando Valley and dividing them by age and gender, we hoped to uncover any patterns of behavior.

My group chose this topic because interracial relationships have been a common issue throughout American history. We only need to look at televisions shows like, .I Love Lucy,. .Ally McBeal., or movies like .Westside Story,. .Jungle Fever,. and .Fools Rush In. to see examples of interracial relationships portrayed by the media. However, it was not always considered so acceptable to participate in or discuss interracial relationships. In 1967, less than 35 years ago, sixteen states still had laws prohibiting sexual relations or marriage between black and white people. In the past, this number had been as high as forty-one. Before the end of the war and the emancipation of the slaves, the few known cases of sexual relations between black men and white women had been considered fornication or adultery. Under slavery, any child resulting from mixed unions took its mother.s civil status; if she was free (and hence usually .white.), the child was free; if she was a slave (always .black.), the child itself would be born into slavery (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, p.332).

METHODS OF RESEARCH

One of our aims in our group presentation was to find out if people.s actions and attitudes toward interracial relationships have changed over time. Our method of research was conducting a survey of seventy people who lived in the San Fernando Valley. We divided the participants into gender and age groups of 18-29, and 30-45. Out of all the people surveyed, there were thirty-five men and women between the ages of 18-29, and thirty-five males and females between the ages of 30-45. Each age group consisted of eighteen males and seventeen females. We attempted to keep the numbers balanced and even in both age and gender categories to make the study an equal comparison. We asked the participants a series of questions to determine past dating habits and their attitude toward interracial marriage.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Our questions revealed that among males ages 18-29, sixty-five percent had dated outside their own race, compared to thirty-five percent that had not dated outside their race. Out of the sixty-five percent of males who said they dated outside their race, all of them said they would marry outside their race. Among thirty-five percent of males who had not dated outside their race, half said they would marry outside their race and the other half said they would not.

Eighty-nine percent of men ages 30-45 proclaimed they had dated outside their race, with the other eleven percent saying they had not dated outside their race. The eighty-nine percent of males, who had dated outside their race, were equally divided on whether they would marry outside their race. The eleven percent of males who had not dated outside their race, all stated that they would not marry outside their race.

The results of the females ages 18-29 revealed that seventy-one percent had dated outside their race, while twenty-nine percent had not. Out of the seventy-one percent of females who declared they had dated outside their race, sixty percent said they would marry outside their race.

Among females ages 30.45, fifty-six percent affirmed they had dated outside their race, with the remaining forty-four percent never having dated outside their race. The fifty.six percent of females who had dated outside their race had mixed results regarding marriage outside their race. Half stressed they would not marry outside their race; thirty percent stated they would marry outside race, and twenty percent were undecided. The forty-four percent of women who responded that they had not dated outside their race, an astonishing eighty-eight percent declared that they would marry someone outside their race.

Many interesting inferences can be made with our results. For example, given the mixed results between the men and women, it is apparent that they have different attitudes regarding marriage outside their race. Comparing the sexes revealed that, in the younger age group, men who had dated outside their race were all willing to marry outside their race. However, among younger women who had dated outside their race, only sixty percent were willing to consider marriage outside of their race. In the older age group, half of the men and women who had dated outside their race said that they would not marry outside their race. However, the men were more willing to consider interracial marriage since the remaining half said they would marry outside their race, while only thirty percent of women said they would marry outside their race. In both age groups,