The 2 methods generally used to analyze the social status outcomes of marriage have been comparison of the socioprofessional characteristics of the spouses, or comparison of the socioprofessional characteristics of their parents. The 1st comparison appears to suggest hypergamy (a tendency to marry upward in the social scale) among wives and a movement of workers toward women in the middle class. Comparison of origins on the other hand suggests a very strong social homogamy, or reproduction of an identical social structure. The paradox is explained by the structural disparity of occupational statuses of men and women. A more detailed analysis of the social position of the spouse would show a strong tendency to choose partners of identical or very similar social background. Recent survey data do not suggest that the tendency to seek spouses among persons with very similar social origins has been altered by the increase in prenuptial cohabitation and consensual unions in France. Social homogamy does not appear to have been weakened at all by the increasing variety of forms of entry into unions. Homogamous couples surprisingly are not strongly overrepresented among the upper classes. They are less so among the salaried middle classes, especially among children of employees. To deepen understanding of homogamy and of apparent exceptions, it is necessary to study matrimonial outcomes in terms of the social trajectories of individuals and groups from their origin to their current position. The most frequent trajectory in each social class is that of individuals whose social positions reproduce those of their parents. The conjunction of parallel social careers represented by a marriage may also serve to consolidate an evolution in progress. Marriage less commonly accelerates transition to a new status or reverses or slows a declining social path.