INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS 2
How does the society influence intercultural relationships?
The society plays an important role in the intercultural relationship. People have gone
beyond their ethnic borders to look for a spouse and intermarry. For example, approximately 61
percentage of American Indian female and a slightly lower percentage of male find it wise to
marry from outside their ethnic groups. Love is the main contributor to marriage outside ethnic
groups but society will have a different perspective from the ones in love. The society may see
them unequal since their altitude and stereotype differs (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p. 280).
This depends on who marries who. For example, the probability of a black man marrying from
outside is higher than that of women getting married from outside while in Asia, the number
women married from outside is much higher than that of men.
This data can create frustrations among African America women and Asian American
Men. The main result of this statistics is to reflect how society, media, and individuals contribute
to a negative image of both groups. In Hollywood movies, this negative image is strengthened
regularly by pairing Asian women with Anglo men other than Asian men. There is always a
feeling of superiority when married to a person who understands his language and culture well
than you do. This makes the one understanding to be in control of almost everything in the
relationship and makes the other look desperate. This can lead to break up when spouse from
different groups understands the same language perfectly and they become equal in control of
their relationship.
It is very important to consider the intercultural relationship in the society due to societal
pressure and interracial couples. It is also significant for society to recognize other ethnic and
racial groups since they might feel as if they are in a relationship with their enemies if they