Majority and Minority Exposure in Childhood: Studies of ethnic segregation in early life in Denmark and its consequences

Guided by the overarching question, “To what extent does ethnic heterogeneity contribute to spatial differentiation between native-born and ethnic minority children in Denmark, and what potential implications does this differentiation have for integration?”, this Ph.D. thesis has studied the processes of segregation in Denmark during childhood in a large-scale macro perspective and contributes to longstanding debates on how to understand the causes of segregation in children’s formative years and its consequences.
A central contribution of this thesis is its conclusion that school segregation is an outcome we must understand as a long-term process that cannot be fully understood by examining the time of school enrollment in isolation. First and foremost, school segregation is shaped by the changing heterogeneity of local school markets and the architecture of the school landscape, because these changes are the precondition for group sorting in the first place. Second, the actual sorting of groups in the school system is driven primarily by the housing market, as this sorting, which occurs prior to the timing of school enrollment, determines opportunities on the school market.