So basically black Republicans are going to choose other Republicans to marry and there aren't enough black Republicans to choose from, so they tend to marry white partners. That's an intriguing take.Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Sat May 20, 2023 6:03 pmI'm not convinced that I'm seeing a phenomenon that requires any kind of explanation. I think the base rate fallacy is in play.
I'm going to use the word "partner" to mean spouse or spousal equivalent.
Let's assume that choosing a partner involved no racial or political preference or bias at all. All other things being equal, what percentage of black folks should we expect to have non-black partners?
Well, about 28% of Americans identify as Republican (as opposed to Democratic or independent). https://news.gallup.com/poll/467897/par ... epublicans.
Of that 28% of Americans, only about 2% are black. https://news.gallup.com/poll/160373/dem ... white.aspx
Let's assume that choosing a partner is race neutral -- there is no bias in favor or against any race, including one's own. Let's also assume that people choose partners who are of the same political party identification. Everything else being equal, we would expect that .6% of black republicans would have black spouses. That's only 6 out of 1000.
Now, that six out of 1000 represents the lower bound. If partner selection is subject to some racial bias and the bias toward political affiliation is less than 100%, the percentage will increase. You can play with the numbers. But, given that we are not just talking about black folks who consider themselves Republicans but folks who are either politicians or high profile influencers, I suspect that the role of political affiliation in partner selection is pretty close to 100%.
The non-random selection of examples we've seen here is completely explained by the very small percentage of black folks who identify as Republican and that political affiliation plays a very strong role in partner selection. No hating one's own race or any other psychological speculation is necessary.
I think it hinges primarily on the assumption that political affiliation is the biggest driver in deciding on a partner. That seems to beg the question though. I mean, this might be truer today as the nation becomes more and more polarized, but I am not sure this was true when most of these folks mentioned on this thread got married; some decades ago. And in the example of Burgess Owens, he actually married a white woman who was a Liberal.
I don't know. Maybe education plays a role too? Interracial marriages appear to be more common the more education a person has. Politicians and "high profile influencers" as you put it tend to be those who are more educated.