Socio-economic modernization and enduring language barriers: choosing a marriage partner in Flemish communities, 1821-1913

In this article, we study how potentially conflicting forces of socioeconomic modernization and enduring language barriers influenced one of the most intimate acts of social interaction: marriage. In the period during which Belgium underwent social and economic modernization – often thought to have diminished barriers between social groups, increasing the likelihood of social heterogamy – linguistic barriers remained strong. The intriguing question is, what happens if socio-economic modernization coincides with persistent linguistic cleavages. We will study this by looking at marriage formatio... Mehr ...