The limits of racial prejudice

Significance Racial segregation in romantic networks is a robust and ubiquitous social phenomenon—but one we understand remarkably poorly. In this paper, I analyze a large network of interactions among users of a popular online dating site. First, I find that users from all racial backgrounds are equally likely or more likely to cross a racial boundary when reciprocating than when initiating romantic contact. Second, I find that certain subsets of users who receive—and reply to—a cross-race message initiate more new interracial exchanges in the short-term future than they would have otherwise. These findings illustrate an important mechanism whereby racial biases in assortative mating may be reduced temporarily by the actions of others.