遇見另一半：教育婚配過程中的介紹人與接觸場合

Meeting the Other Half: Matchmakers and Settings of Contact in Educational Assortative Mating

從媒妁之言到自由戀愛，雖然象徵婚姻當事人擁有選擇配偶的自主權，但配偶選擇並不是隨意選擇的過程，仍然受限於文化規範與人口結構共同型塑的機會結構。我們探討個人的擇偶行為如何受到擇偶過程中擇偶方式、介紹人與接觸場合的作用，嘗試以較完整的理論取向與更細緻的資料，重新檢視婚姻配對研究。本文主要探討介紹人與接觸場合如何影響教育婚姻配對模式的形成，我們檢驗介紹人在擇偶過程中的中介角色，以及其特質來連結結構與文化的關係；同時也探討接觸場合所展現的同類相聚現象的作用。本文使用台灣地區社會意向調查1991年6月專題調查計畫、台灣社會變遷基本調查計畫第五期二次家庭組的資料，進行多類別邏輯迴歸模型分析。本文的分析顯示，介紹人比較容易媒合教育上男高女低的婚姻，尤其當介紹人與擇偶者之間的關係強度越強時越明顯，不過介紹人所維繫的主流配對文化已有些微變動。另外，我們發現介紹人的教育地位對於擇偶者透過婚姻取得較佳的社會位置具有影響力。最後，學校是鞏固教育界限最重要的場合，其為未婚男女創造的教育同質性的擇偶環境會隨著教育層級而增加，更難突破教育藩籬而結婚。

Free choice is the major type of mate Selection in modern Society, but free choice is not as free as one might expect. The freedom to choose a spouse is, to a certain extent, restricted by the opportunity structure. This paper takes a comprehensive perspective to examine classical assortative mating studies based on more refined measures. We investigate how an individual’s mating opportunity is embedded in the Social structure, which in turn affects his/her choice of potential mate. The major aim of this study is to examine the roles of matchmakers and Social occasions in the marriage market, a part of the process of social stratification. We examine the bridging role of matchmakers in the mating process and their characteristics in the linkage between Social structure and culture. We also assess the Social Settings of contacts and their effect on homophily in the mating process. The data analyzed come from two surveys: the General Survey of Social Attitudes in Taiwan and Taiwan Social Change Survey. Multinomial logit models were applied to test a series of hypotheses. The results show that involvement of matchmakers in the mating process is positively associated with hypergamy and that the effect becomes even more significant when the matchmaker and the mate Seeker have a stronger relationship. Nevertheless, the influence of matchmakers has loosened slightly in preserving mainstream cultural norms. Our findings demonstrate that the matchmaker's Social status plays a crucial role in bridging a match with associated higher status during the mating process. The results also illustrate that the educational system is the most important institution that reinforces educational boundaries. Educational institutions have created a mating environment for educational homophily, which is likely to increase with education, and reinforces the educational boundary in the mating process.