 Breaking segregation in classrooms: Peer composition and inter-group relationshipsXiangqing Liu China Economic Review, 2025, vol. 93, issue C Abstract: Segregation between local people and internal migrants has emerged as a significant social issue in China. This study examines the effects of migrant composition among classroom peers on local students’ friendship patterns, migrant students’ perceptions of inter-group behaviour, and school experiences of migrant students. Using data from a nationally representative survey of Chinese middle school students, I exploit the random assignment of students to different classes to identify the causal effect of peer composition. Results show that, with a higher proportion of migrant peers, local students’ friendship networks are more heterogeneous, and migrant students perceive less discriminatory behaviour and more collaborative behaviour from their local classmates. Furthermore, a higher share of migrant peers improves the school experience of migrant students without negatively affecting that of local students. These impacts are non-linear and depend on students’ socioeconomic status, head teacher’s teaching experience, and school location. Keywords: Peer composition; Contact theory; Inter-group relationship; Internal migrants; Randomisation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chieco:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s1043951x25001464 DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102488 Access Statistics for this article China Economic Review is currently edited by B.M. Fleisher, K. X. D. Huang, M.E. Lovely, Y. Wen, X. Zhang and X. Zhu More articles in China Economic Review from Elsevier |
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