Choosing for the Children: The Affiliation of the Children of Minority-Majority Group Intermarriages

Authors:
  • FFFjalar Finnäs
    Fjalar Finnäs
  • RORichard O'Leary
    Richard O'Leary
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Abstract
This paper examines the intergenerational transmission of group affliation in minority-majority group intermarriages. Two key instances are identified when intermarried parents have to declare the group attachment of their child—the census of population and choice of school. We examine the choices parents make in the cases of ethno-linguistic intermarriage in Finland and in ethno-religious intermarriage in the Republic of Ireland. A multivariate analysis reveals the decline over time of the effect of the structural factor of regional population composition on the proportion of children recorded as belonging to the minority group. The individual level factor of parental education is increasingly important, with higher educated parents of the minority being more likely to pass on minority group affliation to their children. These findings are explained in terms of the instrumental benefits which parents, especially higher educated parents, see in the intergenerational transmission of minority group ethnic affliation. This has implications for the perpetuation of high status for particular ethno-linguistic and ethno-religious minority groups.