Segregation by Chance: An Unappreciated Mechanism of Classroom Segregation

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 6. Diversity, Inequality, and Education: Tracking, Segregation and Racism

Abstract

Classroom segregation is largely studied in the context of sorting policies like within-school ability tracking. More recently, a complementary literature on segregation-intensifying mechanisms has revealed classroom segregation in non-sorting contexts as well. This paper introduces an additional mechanism, specific to non-sorting schools: segregation by chance. I draw on the case of racial segregation between classrooms in Brazil – where sorting is rare – to demonstrate the importance of segregation by chance. I argue that Brazil is particularly susceptible to racial segregation by chance due to the colorblinding ideology of racial democracy. Using surveys of the full fifth grade public school population of Brazil in 2011, 2013, and 2015, I provide the first evidence of classroom segregation by race there. I show that there is so much classroom segregation within schools that it is the primary scale of racial composition differences between classrooms nationwide, playing a larger role than segregation between schools, municipalities, and regions. I then demonstrate that segregation by chance is the primary mechanism of classroom segregation, accounting for about 60 percent of classroom segregation in the average school. This number rises to over 80 percent among highly-segregated schools. Developing a broad understanding of classroom segregation will require further attention to segregation by chance.

Author

• Josh Gagné, Stanford University