Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Modeling Mechanisms of School Segregation and Policy Interventions: A Complexity Perspective

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Computational Science – ICCS 2023 (ICCS 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14075))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 785 Accesses

Abstract

We revisit literature about school choice and school segregation from the perspective of complexity theory. This paper argues that commonly found features of complex systems are all present in the mechanisms of school segregation. These features emerge from the interdependence between households, their interactions with school attributes and the institutional contexts in which they reside. We propose that a social complexity perspective can add to providing new generative explanations of resilient patterns of school segregation and may help identifying policies towards robust school integration. This requires a combination of theoretically informed computational modeling with empirical data about specific social and institutional contexts. We argue that this combination is missing in currently employed methodologies in the field. Pathways and challenges for developing it are discussed and examples are presented demonstrating how new insights and possible policies countering it can be obtained for the cases of primary school segregation in the city of Amsterdam.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Anderson, P.W.: More is different. Science 177(4047), 393–396 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ball, S.J., Vincent, C.: “i heard it on the grapevine”:‘hot’knowledge and school choice. British journal of Sociology of Education 19(3), 377–400 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Billingham, C.M., Hunt, M.O.: School racial composition and parental choice: new evidence on the preferences of white parents in the united states. Sociol. Educ. 89(2), 99–117 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bonabeau, E.: Agent-based modeling: methods and techniques for simulating human systems. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99(suppl 3), 7280–7287 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Borghans, L., Golsteyn, B.H., Zölitz, U.: Parental preferences for primary school characteristics. The BE J. Econ. Anal. Policy 15(1), 85–117 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bosetti, L.: Determinants of school choice: understanding how parents choose elementary schools in alberta. J. Educ. Policy 19(4), 387–405 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Boterman, W., Musterd, S., Pacchi, C., Ranci, C.: School segregation in contemporary cities: socio-spatial dynamics, institutional context and urban outcomes. Urban Stud. 56(15), 3055–3073 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Boterman, W., Musterd, S., Pacchi, C., Ranci, C.: School segregation in contemporary cities: socio-spatial dynamics, institutional context and urban outcomes. Urban Stud. 56(15), 3055–3073 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Boterman, W.R.: Dealing with diversity: middle-class family households and the issue of ‘black’and ‘white’schools in amsterdam. Urban Stud. 50(6), 1130–1147 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Boterman, W.R.: The role of geography in school segregation in the free parental choice context of dutch cities. Urban Studies p. 0042098019832201 (2019a)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Boudon, R.: The Unintended Consequences of Social Action. Palgrave Macmillan UK, London (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04381-1

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. Breed Bestuurlijk Overleg: Placement of children in Amsterdam primary schools 2020-2021. https://bboamsterdam.nl/wat-we-doen/toelatingsbeleid/uitvoering-van-stedelijk-toelatingsbeleid-in-cijfers/ (2021) (Accessed July 2022)

  13. Bruch, E., Atwell, J.: Agent-based models in empirical social research. Sociological Methods Res. 44(2), 186–221 (2015)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Candipan, J.: Choosing schools in changing places: Examining school enrollment in gentrifying neighborhoods. Sociology of Education p. 0038040720910128 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Card, D., Mas, A., Rothstein, J.: Tipping and the dynamics of segregation. Q. J. Econ. 123(1), 177–218 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Cioffi-Revilla, C.: Introduction to computational social science. Springer, London and Heidelberg (2014)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Conte, R., et al.: Manifesto of computational social science. The European Physical Journal Special Topics 214(1), 325–346 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Cordini, M., Parma, A., Ranci, C.: ‘white flight’in milan: school segregation as a result of home-to-school mobility. Urban Stud. 56(15), 3216–3233 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. De Wolf, T., Holvoet, T.: Emergence versus self-organisation: different concepts but promising when combined. In: Brueckner, S.A., Di Marzo Serugendo, G., Karageorgos, A., Nagpal, R. (eds.) ESOA 2004. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3464, pp. 1–15. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/11494676_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Dignum, E., Athieniti, E., Boterman, W., Flache, A., Lees, M.: Mechanisms for increased school segregation relative to residential segregation: a model-based analysis. Comput. Environ. Urban Syst. 93, 101772 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dignum, E., Boterman, W., Flache, A., Lees, M.: A data-driven agent-based model of primary school segregation in amsterdam [working paper] (2023)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Dyer, J., Cannon, P., Farmer, J.D., Schmon, S.: Black-box bayesian inference for economic agent-based models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.00625 (2022)

  23. Fong, K., Faude, S.: Timing is everything: late registration and stratified access to school choice. Sociol. Educ. 91(3), 242–262 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Gutiérrez, G., Jerrim, J., Torres, R.: School segregation across the world: has any progress been made in reducing the separation of the rich from the poor? J. Econ. Inequal. 18(2), 157–179 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Haber, J.R.: Sorting schools: A computational analysis of charter school identities and stratification (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Hastings, J.S., Kane, T.J., Staiger, D.O.: Parental Preferences And School Competition: Evidence From A Public School Choice Program. Tech. rep, National Bureau of Economic Research (2005)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Holme, J.J.: Buying homes, buying schools: School choice and the social construction of school quality. Harv. Educ. Rev. 72(2), 177–206 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ladd, H.F.: School vouchers: a critical view. J. Econ. Perspect. 16(4), 3–24 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Ladyman, J., Lambert, J., Wiesner, K.: What is a complex system? Eur. J. Philos. Sci. 3(1), 33–67 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Ladyman, J., Wiesner, K.: What is a complex system? Yale University Press (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Lauen, L.L.: Contextual explanations of school choice. Sociol. Educ. 80(3), 179–209 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. León-Medina, F.J.: Analytical sociology and agent-based modeling: is generative sufficiency sufficient? Sociol Theor. 35(3), 157–178 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Logan, J.R., Minca, E., Adar, S.: The geography of inequality: why separate means unequal in american public schools. Sociol. Educ. 85(3), 287–301 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Mäs, M.: Interactions. In: Research Handbook on Analytical Sociology. Edward Elgar Publishing (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  35. McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., Cook, J.M.: Birds of a feather: homophily in social networks. Ann. Rev. Sociol. 27(1), 415–444 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Miller, J.H., Page, S.E.: Complex adaptive systems: An introduction to computational models of social life. Princeton University Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Mitchell, M.: Complexity: A guided tour. Oxford University Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Mutgan, S.: Free to Choose?: Studies of Opportunity Constraints and the Dynamics of School Segregation. Ph.D. thesis, Linköping University Electronic Press (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Nicolis, G., Nicolis, C.: Foundations of complex systems: emergence, information and prediction. World Scientific (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Page, S.E.: What sociologists should know about complexity. Ann. Rev. Sociol. 41, 21–41 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Pearman, F.A., Swain, W.A.: School choice, gentrification, and the variable significance of racial stratification in urban neighborhoods. Sociol. Educ. 90(3), 213–235 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Perry, L.B., Rowe, E., Lubienski, C.: School segregation: theoretical insights and future directions (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Reardon, S.F., Owens, A.: 60 years after brown: trends and consequences of school segregation. Ann. Rev. Sociol. 40, 199–218 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Renzulli, L.A.: Organizational environments and the emergence of charter schools in the united states. Sociol. Educ. 78(1), 1–26 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Sage, L., Flache, A.: Can ethnic tolerance curb self-reinforcing school segregation? a theoretical agent based model. J. Artif. Societies Social Simulation 24(2), 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.18564/jasss.4544, http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/24/2/2.html

  46. Scheffer, M.: Critical transitions in nature and society, vol. 16. Princeton University Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Schmidt, W.H., Burroughs, N.A., Zoido, P., Houang, R.T.: The role of schooling in perpetuating educational inequality: an international perspective. Educ. Res. 44(7), 371–386 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Stoica, V.I., Flache, A.: From schelling to schools: a comparison of a model of residential segregation with a model of school segregation. J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul. 17(1), 5 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Ukanwa, K., Jones, A.C., Turner, B.L., Jr.: School choice increases racial segregation even when parents do not care about race. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 119(35), e2117979119 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Van de Werfhorst, H.G.: Early tracking and social inequality in educational attainment: educational reforms in 21 european countries. Am. J. Educ. 126(1), 65–99 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Wilson, D., Bridge, G.: School choice and the city: Geographies of allocation and segregation. Urban Studies, pp. 1–18 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computational Science Lab, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Eric Dignum & Mike Lees

  2. Urban Geographies, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdams, Netherlands

    Willem Boterman

  3. Department of Sociology, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Andreas Flache

Authors
  1. Eric Dignum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Willem Boterman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andreas Flache
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mike Lees
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Dignum .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jiří Mikyška

  2. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Clélia de Mulatier

  3. AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland

    Maciej Paszynski

  4. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Valeria V. Krzhizhanovskaya

  5. University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Jack J. Dongarra

  6. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Peter M.A. Sloot

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Dignum, E., Boterman, W., Flache, A., Lees, M. (2023). Modeling Mechanisms of School Segregation and Policy Interventions: A Complexity Perspective. In: Mikyška, J., de Mulatier, C., Paszynski, M., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2023. ICCS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14075. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36024-4_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36024-4_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-36023-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-36024-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics