Homogamy

Homogamy is marriage between individuals who are similar to each other in some culturally significant way, functioning as a form of assortative mating. The basis for such unions can include socioeconomic status, class, gender, caste, ethnicity or religion, as well as age, in the specific case of age homogamy. Beyond marriage itself, the term also describes a broader socialization pattern in which people who are similar to one another tend to associate together. Homogamy is understood as the broader precursor of endogamy, the narrower kinship rule requiring marriage within a specific group: where endogamy operates as an open refusal of partners from outside the group, homogamy describes a more flexible tendency toward similarity between partners without necessarily excluding outsiders by rule.