Segregation och karriärposition : En studie av bostadsomgivningens betydelse för utbildning, sysselsättning och inkomst bland yngre i stockholmsregionen

Sammanfattning: This study deals with questions about residential segregation and its consequences for the life chances and socio-economic development of individuals. The aim is to investigate if the social composition of the neighbourhood has effects upon the careers of individuals who have lived there as adolescents. One key question is: Does residential segregation, through the presence of neighbourhood effects, produce unequal social and economic career opportunities for individuals living in neighbourhoods with different social contexts?For this purpose a dataset containing longitudinal geographic and socio-economic information about all individuals in Stockholm during 1991-2002 is used. A cluster analysis is carried out in order to group neighbourhoods with similar social and economic composition. Five different neighbourhood clusters, all with different social contexts, are derived from this cluster analysis. A cohort of individuals born in 1975, who lived in the same neighbourhood for at least five years during their adolescence, was then followed from the age of 16 and their career positions in the areas of education, employment status and labour income, were analyzed 11 years later.The results of the quantitative analyses indicate, after controlling for individual and family characteristics, small negative neighbourhood effects on individuals’ educational results in upper secondary school for those having reside in less well-off neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood social context is also relatively strong associated with education level. To reach success in terms of higher education it is obviously advantageous to live in places with many well educated residents. For employment status and income, neighbourhood effects seem to be less pronounced. The main conclusion of the thesis is that the place of adolescence matters for an individual’s future and career. This calls for active anti-segregation policies, including the use of urban area-based interventions.