Who marries whom? Educational Homogamy and Social Mobility in Austria

In stratified societies, homogamy is a significant feature of social openness or closure. Nevertheless, marriage and mating as a matter of personal choice follow social patterns and ranking. Matingmirrors the relationship between the classes or social strata and gives a reliable picture of the hierarchy between the sexes in different strata. In this paper we present informative data on educational homogamy in Austria in a descriptive way. We use the data of Austrian censuses (2001, 1991 and 1981). Following the international research, we employ a saturated log-linear model. Applying this model we get a comparative measure even though the educational strata are sized differently, therefore providing different opportunity structures. We conclude that homogamy is high at the top and at the bottom of Austrian society. Whereas we observe a weakening tendency of homogamy at the top, there seems to emerge a trend towards more homogenous relations at the bottom of the Austrian society.