Paths of Acculturation and Social Inclusion. Migration, Marriage Opportunities and Assortative Mating by Geographic Origin in Antwerp, 1846–1920

Abstract

Partner choice and marriage are used as indicators of paths of acculturation and social inclusion among migrants who moved as singles to Antwerp. Whereas scholars previously studied either the timing and intensity of marriage among migrants or the degree to which migrants married natives, we utilise a model which combines both approaches, linking four different meeting and mating outcomes to four acculturation trajectories. The event history analyses show that, in line with studies from the Chicago School of sociology, migrants were marginalised at a large scale. However, this was not a result of economic hardship, limited skills or the rural background of the migrant, but related to ethnic and cultural differences. Stayers and leavers had equal risks of facing marginalisation. Being born in the direct hinterland and moving early to the city increased the likelihood of experiencing assimilation. Puschmann ET AL. journal of migration history 2 (2016) 177-207 178

Long-Term Trends in Marriage Timing and the Impact of Migration, the Netherlands (1650-1899)

“…Furthermore, people who moved from a region with relatively high marriage ages to an area with favourable economic conditions married later compared to both the stayers in their place of origin and the receiving community. Therefore, we can conclude that in the early modern Netherlands the potential economic benefits of migration, which could facilitate the collection of necessary savings to start one's own household and thereby making an earlier marriage possible, did not outweigh the difficulties related to moving to a new environment (see also : Puschmann 2016). The only exception is the second half of the eighteenth century, when marriage ages of male migrants moving from a rural to an urban place were the same as their male peers staying in the rural community.…”

“…The distorted sex ratios, in eighteenth-century towns in Holland, could even rise as high as 140 women per 100 men (Schmidt & Van der Heijden 2016). This made it very difficult for migrating women to find a marriage partner (see also Puschmann et al 2016).…”

“…On an individual level, four outcomes of migration on marital timing are possible: 1) Migration might increase marriage ages compared to both the stayers in the place of origin and the men and women living in the receiving community because it takes time to settle down in a new (urban) environment, to become part of a social network and find a suitable partner (Lynch 1991;De Vries 1984;Van Poppel 1992;overview: Puschmann et al 2014;Puschmann et al 2016), or: 2) Migration might cause a lowering of marriage ages vis-à-vis stayers because of economic and demographic conditions (job opportunities, higher wages, favourable sex-ratios). Good economic conditions facilitate the establishment of one's own household, a necessary precondition for getting married in EMP-societies where neo-locality was the norm (Haines 1996;Jampaklay 2006;Cilliers 2013).…”

Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century

“…model of different marriage regimes for permanent residents and temporary migrants in 17 th and 18 th century Europe cannot be confirmed for Rostock in the beginning of the 19 th century. In 1900 about half of the women born in Rostock were married, while almost two thirds of women who came to Rostock were already married, which is in clear contrast to Antwerp, Rotterdam and Stockholm in the second half of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century(Puschmann, Grönberg, Schumacher & Matthijs 2014;Puschmann, Van den Driessche, Grönberg, Van de Putte & Matthijs 2015;Puschmann, Van den Driessche, Mattijs & Van de Putte 2016). We conclude that around 1900 moving to Rostock was in close temporal connection to marriage.…”

Historical Life Courses and Family Reconstitutions. The Scientific Impact of the Antwerp COR*-Database

“…Migrants who originated from the city's hinterland and had moved early on in their life, had the highest likelihood of marrying a native partner and becoming fully part of the urban mainstream. It also became clear that migrants from smaller groups had more difficulty in getting married, but if they did, they were more likely to do so with native partners, probably because the in-group options were scarce (Puschmann et al, 2016a).…”