Christer Lundh

Intermarriage and Immigrant Integration in Sweden An Exploratory Analysis

In this article, we explore marital exogamy (especially intermarriage between immigrants and natives) among 39 different immigrant groups using cross-sectional registry data for the total immigrant populations in Sweden in 2003. Immigrants who are better educated, who spend a longer time in Sweden before marriage and live outside the bigger cities are more likely to be married to natives. Controlling for age at immigration, education, time between immigration and marriage, settlement size and the relative size of the immigrant group of the opposite sex, immigrants from Western Europe (excluding Finland) and the United States are more likely to be married to natives than are other immigrants. We also analyse the link between intermarriage and economic integration, with the results indicating a strong association between intermarriage and economic integration in terms of employment and income. Immigrants married to natives are more likely to be employed, and also to have higher individual and household income.

Cultural dissimilarity and intermarriage. a longitudinal study of immigrants in Sweden, 1990–2005.

Intermarriage with natives is a key indicator of immigrant integration. This article studies intermarriage for 138 immigrant groups in Sweden, using longitudinal individual level data. It shows great variation in marriage patterns across immigrant populations, ranging from over 70 percent endogamy in some immigrants groups to below 5 percent in other groups. Although part of this variation is explained by human capital and the structure of the marriage market, cultural factors (values, religion, and language) play an important role as well. Immigrants from culturally more dissimilar countries are less likely to intermarry with natives, and instead more prone to endogamy.

Finding the Right Partner. Rural Homogamy in Nineteenth Century Sweden

In pre-industrial society, choosing a marriage partner was a crucial process, and especially so for landowners. This study focuses on social aspects of mate selection in five rural parishes in southern Sweden between 1829 and 1894, using an individual-level database containing information on a large number of marriages and the social origins of the marrying couple regardless of whether they were born in the relevant parish or not. The information makes it possible to study homogamy without introducing the possible selection biases implicit in looking only at non-migrating population, a consideration which is of great importance in a society characterized by very high levels of geographical mobility. The results show a community marked by quite strong hornogamy but with pronounced differences among social groups. Landholding peasants were the most homogamous. The pattern of homogamy also remained fairly constant despite fundamental economic and social change. (Less)

People on the move: determinants of servant migration in nineteenth-century Sweden

This article deals with the high mobility of servants in preindustrial northwestern Europe. By combining both a qualitative and a quantitative approach we analyse the determinants of servant migration in the province of Scania, in southern Sweden, during the nineteenth century. The analysis shows that about half of the moves were connected to the structure of working-life organization, servant hierarchy and marriage. The rest depended on a range of other factors such as the type and structure of the masters household, variations in the demand for labour caused by fluctuations in harvest yields, conflicts within households, or a wish to gain additional training.

Gender Aspects of Inheritance Strategies and Land Transmission in Rural Scania, Sweden, 1720-1840

This study deals with gender aspects of land transmissions in pre-industrial Sweden. Although not supported by law, a clear mentality of male primogeniture among peasants existed in the Swedish countryside in the 18th century. In many cases, however, this ideal could never be realized, making the idea of the “family farm,” handed down from father to son for generations, more of a myth than a reality. This study uses postmortem inventories linked to tax registers and family reconstitutions for a sample of parishes in southern Sweden to show that various strategies were chosen when transferring the farm after the death of the husband or wife. Although sons were more likely to take over the farms, daughters (or more correctly sons-in-law) also frequently did so, as did, sometimes, more distant kin and non-kin. Moreover, it was not the case, as has sometimes been maintained, that daughters took over the farm only when no able-bodied sons were available. On the contrary, daughters (sons-in-law) quite frequently took over the farm even when sons were present. The decision on land transmission was part of a more general family strategy concerning reproduction (access to marriage and household formation) as well as old-age security.

The institution of retirement on Scanian estates in the nineteenth century

This article examines the institution of retirement on some estates in Scania, the southernmost part of Sweden, in the nineteenth century. It is obvious that tenant farmers on the estates were practising the same retirement system as was customary among freeholders, that is they were entering into retirement contracts with their offspring or with a non-relative, making over the farm in exchange for board and lodging for the rest of their lives. The retirement age was about 60 for men and somewhat less for women. In this respect there was no difference between tenant farmers and freeholders. However, due to differences in property conditions and land tenure, there were other differences between these groups. Freeholders were usually able to ensure for themselves considerably better pension rights than could estate tenants. Furthermore, there are clear indications that estate owners, in certain cases, opposed early retirement or intervened in the selection of new tenant farmers as well as in the level of the pension. Possibly as a result, it was more common among estate tenants to agree a retirement contract with a non-relative than it was among freeholders.

Status Homogamy in the Preindustrial Marriage Market: Partner Selection According to Age, Social Origin, and Place of Birth in Nineteenth-century Rural Sweden

This article studies partner selection according to three dimensions: social origin, age, and place of birth. The authors use micro-level data from local population registers in five parishes in southern Sweden from 1815 to 1895.The results confirm that all three aspects were important but that socioeconomic status was the most important characteristic,structuring much of the selection process.The importance of social and age homogamy remained stable over the period, while geographic exogamy became more frequent, which could be interpreted in terms of an increasing openness of rural society.The authors also find some indications of exchange of characteristics in the partner selection process.

Widowhood strategies in preindustrial society

In preindustrial society, the loss of a spouse usually impelled the surviving party to adapt quickly by choosing between certain strategies: to remain the head of the household, to remarry, to enter a household headed by a child or the spouse of child, to dissolve the household and enter into an unrelated persons household, or to migrate out of the parish. The use of competing-risk hazard models and longitudinal microlevel data shows that demographic, socioeconomic, and gender-related factors interacted in determining the choice of strategy in a rural area of southern Sweden during the nineteenth century.

Remarriage, Gender and Social Class: A Longitudinal Study of Remarraige in Southern Sweden 1766-1894

Remarriage was common in Sweden in pre-industrial times, especially among men, although over the nineteenth century the number of remarriages declined. This article analyses remarriages in southern Sweden between 1766 and 1894. Data are derived from family reconstitutions in five rural parishes in southern Sweden, which makes it possible to follow individual widows and widowers from the year of the death of the spouse. The focus here is on the influence of individual characteristics, household composition, food prices and time period on an individual widows or widowers probability of remarriage. For some variables the effect was quite general, for example the negative effect on remarriage of the individuals age and the decrease in the likelihood of remarriage in the nineteenth century. The influence of other variables was not this straightforward. Socioeconomic status interacted with all variables, especially gender, food prices and the presence of minor or adult children in the household.

Remarriages in Sweden in the 18th and 19th centuries

This article deals with remarriages in southern Sweden from 1740 to 1894. The focus is on the factors that influenced the likelihood of getting remarried. Data are from family reconstitutions and individual widowers and widows followed over a 2-year period from the year of the death of the spouse. The dependent variable, to be remarried within 2 years after the death of the spouse, is regressed on such factors as sex, age, time period, presence of minor children in the household, social status, rye prices, and interactions between these factors. The study has produced two main results: First, the decline in adult mortality alone cannot explain the decrease in the number of remarriages over time. Other factors associated with socioeconomic change and modernization of society (new occupations, better or new pension conditions, changing attitudes towards marriage, remarriage, elderly people, etc.) also played a role. Second, observed differences between sexes or between social groups in the number of remarriages to a large extent can be explained by the way that sex and social status interacted and thereby influenced the likelihood of getting married, especially when minor children were present in the household.