{"id":3102,"date":"2020-12-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2020-12-03T14:52:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T20:52:25","slug":"inequality-and-opportunity-in-online-dating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2020\/12\/03\/inequality-and-opportunity-in-online-dating\/","title":{"rendered":"Inequality and Opportunity in Online Dating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/12\/love-4888774_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Although Covid-19 has made dating more difficult, people are still finding ways to make connections and initiate more intimate relationships. Like a lot of life right now, people are using the internet to meet and date potential partners. But, unlike zoom birthday parties or virtual weddings, online dating is nothing new. Even before the pandemic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2020\/02\/06\/10-facts-about-americans-and-online-dating\/\">3 in 10 Americans reported having ever used a dating website or app<\/a>. Sociological research shows us both the promises of online dating and its potential to entrench existing inequalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The internet has expanded the dating pool, potentially displacing \u201ctraditional\u201d ways of meeting partners in school or through family connections. This is particularly impactful for people who might have \u201cthin\u201d dating markets where they live and in their community including LGBTQ people and middle-aged heterosexual people. Online dating provides a way for people to seek connection, love, or monogamy with a broader social network, one that is connected to geography and place in both new and familiar ways.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.feinberg.northwestern.edu\/faculty-profiles\/az\/profile.html?xid=37275\">Courtney Blackwell,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/communication.northwestern.edu\/faculty\/jeremy-birnholtz\/\">Jeremy Birnholtz<\/a>, and Charles Abbott. 2015. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1461444814521595\">Seeing and Being Seen: Co-Situation and Impression Formation Using Grindr, a Location-Aware Gay Dating App.<\/a>\u201d <em>New Media &amp; Society<\/em> 17(7):1117\u201336.&nbsp;<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4625-7090\">Zack Dwyer,<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.utas.edu.au\/profiles\/staff\/sociology\/Nicholas-Hookway\">Nicholas Hookway,<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/research.monash.edu\/en\/persons\/brady-robards\">Brady Robards<\/a>. 2020. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1440783320948958\">Navigating \u2018thin\u2019 Dating Markets: Mid-Life Repartnering in the Era of Dating Apps and Websites<\/a>.\u201d <em>Journal of Sociology<\/em>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lives-nccr.ch\/en\/personne\/gina-potarca-n1332\">Gina Potarca<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sociology.ox.ac.uk\/academic-staff\/melinda-mills.html\">Melinda Mills,<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imprs-life.mpg.de\/people\/wiebke-neberich\">Wiebke Neberich<\/a>. 2015. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/jomf.12177\">Relationship Preferences Among Gay and Lesbian Online Daters: Individual and Contextual Influences.<\/a>\u201d <em>Journal of Marriage and Family<\/em> 77(2):523\u201341.&nbsp;<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~mrosenfe\/\"> Michael J<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~mrosenfe\/\">Rosenfeld<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/sociology.unm.edu\/people\/faculty%20profile\/Reuben%20J%20Thomas.html\">Reuben J. Thomas.<\/a> 2012. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0003122412448050\">Searching for a Mate: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary.<\/a>\u201d <em>American Sociological Review<\/em> 77(4):523\u201347.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The \u201conline\u201d in online dating introduces concerns about authenticity that are not necessarily present in face-to-face interactions. Users worry that their online dates are not who they say they are, and carefully analyze date\u2019s online profiles to try to determine \u201cthe truth.\u201d Individuals with stigmatized identities, such as disabled people, worry about how to \u201cdisclose\u201d this identity in cyberspace, a concern that is not necessarily present in the embodied offline world.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/stefanieduguay.com\/\">Stefanie Duguay.<\/a> 2017. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/1369118X.2016.1168471\">Dressing up Tinderella: Interrogating Authenticity Claims on the Mobile Dating App Tinder.<\/a>\u201d <em>Information, Communication &amp; Society<\/em> 20(3):351\u201367.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/scientific-contributions\/Natasha-Saltes-2026559656\">Natasha Saltes<\/a>. 2013. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/09687599.2012.695577\">Disability, Identity and Disclosure in the Online Dating Environment.<\/a>\u201d <em>Disability &amp; Society<\/em> 28(1):96\u2013109.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Although it is tempting to view online dating as transformative, it can also entrench existing inequalities. \u201cAssortive mating\u201d in which people seek partners similar to them in terms of race, educational experience, and class happens online, too. For instance, users set their preferences and search profiles in ways that reinforce racial segregation and hierarchy. The inequalities of the \u201creal world\u201d are also present online, with the added barrier that only those who can access computers and the internet can participate.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.ucr.edu\/app\/home\/profile\/brandonr\">Brandon Andrew Robinson<\/a>. 2015. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2332649214546870\">Personal Preference\u2019 as the New Racism: Gay Desire and Racial Cleansing in Cyberspace<\/a>.\u201d <em>Sociology of Race and Ethnicity<\/em> 1(2):317\u201330.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.faculty.uci.edu\/profile.cfm?faculty_id=4668\">Belinda Robnett<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sociology.wustl.edu\/people\/cynthia-feliciano\">Cynthia Feliciano.<\/a> 2011. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi-org.ezp2.lib.umn.edu\/10.1093\/sf\/89.3.807\">Patterns of Racial-Ethnic Exclusion by Internet Daters.<\/a>\u201d <em>Social Forces<\/em> 89(3):807\u201328.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.usciences.edu\/faculty\/sautter-jessica\">Jessica M. Sautter,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncdemography.org\/staff\/rebecca-tippett-ph-d\/\">Rebecca M. Tippett, <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholars.duke.edu\/person\/pmorgan\">S. Philip Morgan<\/a>. 2010. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/j.1540-6237.2010.00707.x\">The Social Demography of Internet Dating in the United States<\/a>.\u201d <em>Social Science Quarterly<\/em> 91(2):554\u201375.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.skopek.org\/\">Jan Skopek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uni-bamberg.de\/en\/soz1\/team\/dr-florian-schulz\/\">Florian Schulz<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eui.eu\/DepartmentsAndCentres\/PoliticalAndSocialSciences\/People\/Professors\/Blossfeld\">Hans-Peter Blossfeld.<\/a> 2011. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/esr\/article-abstract\/27\/2\/180\/425081?redirectedFrom=fulltext\">Who Contacts Whom? Educational Homophily in Online Mate Selection.<\/a>\u201d <em>European Sociological Review<\/em> 27(2):180\u201395.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Covid-19 has made dating more difficult, people are still finding ways to make connections and initiate more intimate relationships. Like a lot of life right now, people are using the internet to meet and date potential partners. But, unlike zoom birthday parties or virtual weddings, online dating is nothing new. Even before the pandemic, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,55,13,14],"tags":[97017,2326,135868,345,34,110430,21526,3193,38542,133472,3353,135869],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-gender","category-inequality","category-race","tag-assortative-mating","tag-authenticity","tag-dating-markets","tag-disability","tag-education","tag-educational-inequality","tag-lgbtq","tag-online-dating","tag-race","tag-racial-hierarchy","tag-racial-segregation","tag-thin-dating-markets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3108,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}