Competition in Online Dating Markets

The idea that mate pursuit unfolds in a market is the theoretical foundation for most social science studies of dating and marriage. Much attention has been paid to measuring romantic preferences and documenting how relationship patterns vary with market composition. Far less attention has been paid to understanding how individual’s preferences and opportunities combine in the market, i.e., the workings of the market itself. A market for dating or marriage implies that singles compete for desirable partners. This competition determines who ends up with whom and who ends up alone. While competition is shaped by preferences and opportunities, it is not a simple sum of these things. I present a novel framework for studying competition in relationship markets and apply it to data on messaging patterns observed among heterosexuals on a popular online dating site.

Elizabeth Bruch is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Complex Systems, an Associate Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research, and an External Faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. She also leads the University of Michigan's Computational Social Science Initiative.

Please note that this event takes place in English only with no translation.

The event is part of the WZB Talks series.

The event will not be recorded.