Local context and marriage choices: the role of neighbourhood status in early 20th-century southern Sweden

Abstract

This study examines the role of neighbourhood status in partner selection during the early and mid-20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and social change. While contemporary research emphasizes achieved characteristics such as education, historical marriage patterns were more strongly shaped by ascriptive factors. Yet, the influence of neighbourhood context on assortative mating remains underexplored. Using longitudinal, geocoded data from the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database (SEDD), this study analyses first marriages in Landskrona, Sweden, between 1905 and 1967. Applying a competing-risk proportional hazards model, it assesses how neighbourhood socioeconomic composition affected the likelihood of marrying partners of different social classes, controlling for individual characteristics, class origin, period, and marriage market structure. Results show that neighbourhood status significantly influenced partner selection. Individuals from higher-status neighbourhoods were more likely to marry higher-status partners and less likely to marry lower-status ones, particularly before 1940. Gender differences were modest but consistent with prevailing norms: women avoided lower-status partners, while men showed a stronger tendency to marry upward. These findings support theories of collective socialization and third-party influence, while highlighting the need to consider local social context in historical studies of partner selection. The study contributes by addressing an understudied period, using detailed longitudinal data, and analysing a relatively homogenous setting in terms of ethnicity and religion.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The History of the Family, 2026 · DOI ↗