"Although we looked at Chicago in detail, what we found is reflected in major cities across the country," Laumann said. "Each major American city is organized much as Chicago is, with similar neighborhoods, similar people and similar institutions."
In addition to a broader series of interviews, researchers focused on four Chicago neighborhoods for case studies: one predominately African-American on the South Side, one Mexican-American on the West Side, one mixed but predominately Puerto Rican neighborhood on the Northwest Side and a North Side neighborhood that that has the largest homosexual population in the city, but also has many upper income, young, white heterosexuals living there.
"These communities were chosen to represent various points along a continuum of perceived cohesiveness and insularity as well as to provide samples of different racial, ethnic and sexual orientation populations," the authors wrote. The sexual markets are important means for people to organize their lives, the team found. "Sex is a powerful force in relationships. It provides fulfillment and contributes to a high quality of life," Laumann observed.
The researchers found that at the most fundamental level, people negotiate partnering in two kinds of sexual markets: one transactional and the other relational.
The transactional market consists of encounters primarily for the purposes of a short-term relationship. Transactional marketplaces are located in bars, health clubs and other venues where people who don't previously know each other can meet to form relatively uncommitted relationships.
The relational market functions in a more complicated way and is often guided by friends and family. People they know introduce people with common interests and common
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Contact: William Harm
w-harms@uchicago.edu
773-702-8356
University of Chicago
8-Jan-2004