2011:11 Increasing segregation in upper level secondary schools: effects on educational inequality, labor market inequality and labor market segregation
The aim of the project is to investigate whether increased segregation between upper secondary level schools affects social inequality in the attainment of higher education, inequality in the labor market and segregation at the labor market. An admission reform in the municipality of Stockholm in year 2000 is used as a naturally occurring experiment to study these questions. Before the reform, the admission to schools was based on residence. After the reform, the admission was based on grades. The reform led to dramatically increased differences in average admission grades between schools, and sharply increased socioeconomic and ethnic segregation between schools. Through comparisons with students who went to upper secondary schools in the municipality of Stockholm before the reform and those who went to upper secondary school in neighboring municipalities before and after the reform, it is possible to isolate effects with a so-called difference-in-differences design. Average effects as well as group-specific – by social background, country of birth, and sex – will be estimated. The project contributes to scholarly research on the effects of school segregation, and research on the perpetuation of segregation across institutional settings. Policy-wise, the project contributes with new knowledge on how the educational system affects individual chances to attain higher education, and how the educational system affects inequality in the labor market. Participating researcher: Magnus Bygren

2008:13 School, Segregation and Integration
The aim of this project - financed by Committee for Education, Swedish Research Council - is to study how multicultural urban schools (the professionals and students) define and position themselves in relation to difficulties and possibilities they face. These could be low achievement, the student outflow and bad reputation as well as cultural diversity and external resources assigned to schools in forms of different integration projects. The method applied is qualitative with deep interviews and content analysis of relevant documents and literature. The empirical examinations have been done in Stockholm and Malmö. Participating researchers: Nihad Bunar.

2008:12 Freedom of Choice and School in the Urban Space
The aim of this project - financed by Committee for Education, Swedish Research Council - is to study what happens to students who leave their multicultural urban schools and opt for so called "Swedish" schools (with ethnic Swedes in majority) in other parts of the city. We also study how students in multicultural schools position themselves in relation to the choice of upper secondary schools and how well are they are doing once they are enrolled in an upper secondary schools. This is important to consider since students do not change only a school organization (from elementary to upper secondary), but often even cultural and symbolic capital attached to their school. The empirical part of the study is located in Stockholm. The method is ethnographic with participatory observations, deep interviews and content analysis of relevant documents and literature. Participating researchers: Nihad Bunar and Jenny Kallstenius.

2006:4 A Micro-Perspective on Integration and Segregation
We will study immigrants’ chances in the Swedish labour market by (a) collecting and analyzing data on people’s personal networks, and (b) by investigating common patterns in immigrants’ subjective experiences of the Swedish society and to what extent these experiences diverge from natives’ experiences. One study will focus on the effect of cross-ethnic interaction, social support, and information access on labour market outcomes. This will be a large-scale survey of “ego-networks” on a longitudinal cohort sample including non-immigrants, immigrants, and second-generation immigrants at the age of 18. In a second study we look at individuals’ ambitions and desire to invest in education and career by collecting life histories of pupils in their final (9th) school year. They will be instructed to write about their lives and what they expect their lives in ten years time. Applying methods from network analysis, these life histories will be deconstructed into a series of events and the relations that causally or logically link events. The purpose is to compare identity structures and expectations for natives and different immigration groups, and to analyze to what extent these relate to school outcomes and future plans. Participating researchers: Christofer Edling, Jens Rydgren

2006:3 The Long Arm of the Immigrant-Dense Suburb
Increased immigration and the parallel ethnic segregation of the housing market have led to a change in ethnic composition of the social arenas where immigrant adolescents spend most of their formative years. We examine whether the ethnic and social composition of schools and neighborhoods later in life influence immigrants’ (1) educational and labor market careers, (2) family formation patterns (particularly the formation of family units that cross ethnic boundaries), and (3) the criminal careers and formation of criminal networks. The empirical foundation of this study is a longitudinal database that contains extensive demographic and socio-economic information on all individuals living in Sweden between 1990 and 2007. The database includes individual characteristics as well as information on where the individuals lived, worked, and went to school. Studies of criminal careers and criminal networks are based on data from the county of Stockholm. The project offers a unique opportunity to assess in great detail how the social contexts in which individuals are embedded, i.e. families, schools and neighborhoods, influence their living conditions and actions. Participating researchers: Ryszard Szulkin, Magnus Bygren, Martin Hällsten, Jerzy Sarnecki.

See also the following projects listed under "Completed Projects":

2006:8 Labour Mobility and Segregation

2006:11 Mobility in the Segregated Labour Market? Possibilities and Limitations of Entrepreneurship