Segregation of Opportunities: Pathways to Marginalization through Neighborhoods and Peers

Social and economic exclusion is a major challenge worldwide, attracting substantial research efforts across various disciplines. Yet, research has been largely unsuccessful in providing robust knowledge that can promote inclusion. One key reason is that marginalization is a multifaceted challenge that cannot be tackled within disciplinary boundaries. SEGOP will push the research frontier by integrating perspectives and methods from sociology, psychology, behavioral genetics, and economics. My main objective is to provide nuanced knowledge about how marginalization processes unfold through interactions between family background, individual characteristics, and neighborhood and peer characteristics. With SEGOP, I will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers. We will leverage uniquely rich population-wide register data linked with large-scale survey data on nuanced developmental mechanisms and outcomes, as well as molecular genetic data. Together we will: 1. Investigate stability and persistence across different aspects of marginalization, and forecast which children and youth will experience persistent long-term marginalization. 2. Discover when, why, and for whom neighborhood and peer processes during childhood and youth lead to marginalization. 3. Uncover whether intergenerational transmission of disadvantage occurs through segregated opportunities. With surging inequality, growing socioeconomic achievement gaps, and increasing neighborhood segregation, there is an urgent need to understand pathways leading to marginalization. My interdisciplinary research profile, broad research background, and expertise in quantitative methods make me uniquely suited to lead this timely project. By integrating fragmented disciplinary perspectives, I have the groundbreaking opportunity to unravel mechanisms leading to marginalization. This knowledge will inform policy with the potential to reduce barriers to inclusion and give all children equal chances to succeed.