A Study of the Spatial Aspects of Partner Choice from a Human Biological View Point

414-435 pages with figures, tables and charts. Royal octavo (9 3/4' x 6 1/4") in Loose pages from Man, Volume 14, number 3. First edition.

This article considers geographical and social aspects of marital choice in modern Britain and their likely genetical import. Marital choice is important biologically because partners with remote origins tend to be genetically more different than those with close origins. Proximity of partners affects genetical variance and the size and ease of definition of breeding populations. Most previous studies have concentrated upon village populations, but modern urban marriage also needs to be studied, especially since a high proportion of the world's population now lives in cities. A nationwide British survey showed that marriage up to the late 1950s was still relatively local. Differences in regional origin, social class and age all affect marital distance (and geographers' models of spatial interaction are a useful model for the large scale aspects of marital mobility). A later regional survey showed some subdivision of the chosen city through marital contacts; although the degree of isolation was not great. Migration matrix models show that all the components of the region would become ancestrally homogeneous with the outside world after seven generations.

Condition: Loose pages else very good.