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

2011:8 Individual Life Chances in Social Context - A Longitudinal Multi-Methods Perspective on Social Constraints and Opportunities
This project is funded by an ERC Starting Grant and runs for five years (starting in January 2011). The project focuses contextual factors explaining differences in young adults’ life chances in a longitudinal perspective. We propose a synthetic approach to the study of life chances (education, labor market situation, health) that integrates traditional models with a fuller focus on contextual factors—neighborhoods and social networks in particular. We will be collecting a unique data set relating to social capital of a cohort of Swedish young adults (born in 1990), which includes individuals with and without immigrant background (N=5600), in order to analyze the significance of social capital for individual life chances. We include in the sample all persons in the cohort with at least one parent born in Iran, half of the persons in the cohort with at least one parent born in former Yugoslavia, and a random sample of 2,500 persons in the cohort with two parents born in Sweden. We are in the process of analyzing data from the first wave of the planned three-wave panel study. Project coordinator: Jens Rydgren.

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.

2008:11 Why Are There Differences Between Young People With Swedish and Non-European Backgrounds in the Transition From School to Work?
The aim of the project is to acquire new and deeper knowledge concerning the reasons why young people with non European backgrounds have less success on the labour market than young people with Swedish backgrounds. Questions asked are 1) To what extent can differences on the labour market be explained by variations of individual behaviour and by variations in accessing jobs? 2) Are results from research during the deep recession at the beginning of the 1990s still applicable? 3) Is tertiary education a means to surpass the ethnic gaps on the labour market? 4) How significant are activities in the first year after leaving school for future labour market careers? The project is based on a specially designed questionnaire and register data. Participating researcher: Lena Schröder

2008:6 Social Capital and Labour Market Integration: A Cohort Study
The objective of the project is to illuminate one of our most pressing social problems by facilitating a better understanding of one of the mechanisms involved in the process of integration, namely the significance of social capital for the individual’s labour market opportunities. We will be collecting a unique data set relating to the social capital of a cohort of Swedish eighteen-year-olds, which includes individuals with and without an immigrant background, in order to analyse the significance of social capital and changes in social capital over time. The sample includes individuals who have migrated to Sweden, individuals born in Sweden to one or two immigrant parents, and individuals born in Sweden to Swedish-born parents. The nature of the sample enables us to examine differences in the composition of social capital and its significance for educational choices and results, and for the degree of labour market participation. The overall objective is thus to study the link between social capital and labour market integration, broadly defined, over the short and longer term. We will be following the cohort at a further two points in the future, at ages 22 and 26 years, during a phase of the life-course that is decisive for both educational choices and the individual’s future position on the labour market. This project is supported by a grant from The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research. Participating researchers: Christofer Edling and 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":

2006:1 Equal Opportunities for Equal Education

2006:7 Acculturation Identity and Labor Market Outcomes