Desegregation strategies and gentrifiers: conceptual analysis on the justification of social closure in urban school markets in Finland

Sonja Kosunen and Heidi Huilla

Chapter 9 in Gentrification and Schooling in Global Cities, 2026, pp 198-216 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: We present a conceptual analysis on how residential segregation, between-school segregation, and within-school segregation are interconnected in the debate on desegregation strategies as a form of educational governance, and what is the role of gentrifiers and middle classes living in socially mixed neighbourhoods. In Finland, educational policy has thus far supported the existence of these distinctive classes in socially mixed areas based on the fear that without them, the gentrifiers and other affluent families would flee from the area and from the local school. Thereby, the well-documented within-school segregation emerging in the public education market is justified with the rationale of aiming to avoid the increase in between-school segregation and residential segregation. Especially the role of middle-class families in gentrified areas is essential in this reasoning, and thereby we suggest that more analytical emphasis in the scientific debate should be given to the spatial positions of middle-class families in urban space.

Keywords: Desegregation; Residential Segregation; School Segregation; Within-School Segregation; Middle Class; Gentrification; Ability-Grouping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035346677
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