Crossed destinies: structures and processes of homogamy

Abstract

This article approaches the question of homogamy with regard to a universe of partners of recently established companies in two peripheral municipalities of the Greater Lisbon area - Loures and Barreiro. In an introductory part, we discuss the pertinence of a perspective which focuses on the discrepancy between the representations that construct modern conjugality and the logic of homogamy in the choice of the conjugal partner. In the second part, homogamy is methodologically worked as a structure, that is, as a final outcome of a decision which affects a couple or on someone with the position of a neighbour in the social space. In the third part it is treated as a process, that is, paying particular attention to the scenarios of interaction in which the partners effectively find or miss each other. We end by concluding that, despite the fact that this population is characterised by a high degree of social mobility (as compared to the generation that fostered them), the matrimonial paths are socially endogamic.