Agenda
Call for abstracts Workshop ‘From Matrimonial Ads to Dating Apps: Unraveling the Partnering Market’ – deadline 15 April 2026
The organisers of the Workshop ‘From Matrimonial Ads to Dating Apps: Unraveling the Partnering Market’ call for paper abstracts for this workshop, to be held on 4 and 5 June at the Center for Demographic Studies in Barcelona, Spain.
Partner selection is often seen as a private decision, but its implications stretch far beyond the individual and couple, affecting families, communities, and society at large. It shapes and reflects social inequalities, with the potential to either challenge or reinforce existing structures. Understanding how partnering markets work—and why and how they evolve over time—is vital for scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including demographers, historians, sociologists, biologists, and geneticists. While much of the research on partner selection has focused on couple data, new data sources—from historical matrimonial advertisements to contemporary dating apps—provide exciting opportunities to explore the underlying dynamics of mate choice. These insights have the potential to illuminate patterns of assortative mating, gender imbalances, and other structural inequalities within relationships and society.
This call for papers invites scholars from all disciplines to explore how partnering markets operate across diverse contexts and the far-reaching consequences of these dynamics, including their impact on relationship stability, social mobility, health, and family structures.
Participants should submit a paper proposal abstract (300-350 words max.) aligned with the workshop’s objectives ultimately by 15 April 2026 via email to both Paul Puschmann and Joana Maria Pujadas Mora
