We used to marry people to which we were somehow connected to: friends of
friends, schoolmates, neighbours. Since we were more connected to people
similar to us, we were likely to marry someone from our own race.
However, online dating has changed this pattern: people who meet online tend
to be complete strangers. Given that one-third of modern marriages start
online, we investigate theoretically, using random graphs and matching theory,
the effects of those previously absent ties in the diversity of modern
societies.
We find that when a society benefits from previously absent ties, social
integration occurs rapidly, even if the number of partners met online is small.
Our findings are consistent with the sharp increase in interracial marriages in
the U.S. in the last two decades.
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The Strength of Absent Ties: Social Integration via Online Dating
Josue Ortega, Philipp Hergovich
posted on 02 October 2017
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