A comment on "low levels of ethnic intolerance do not create large ghettos" by Michel Forsé and Maxime Parodi

Schelling’s model of segregation has long been considered a para-digmatic example of emergent behavior, as in the model seemingly tolerant individual choices produce complete racial segregation. The Forsé and Parodi article takes issue with both the mathematical and substantive characterization of Schelling’s model. At a mathematical level, they argue that the model’s behavior is not emergent, paradoxical, non-linear or otherwise complex. Instead, they claim that the level of segregation is a linear function of individual preferences for segregation. Substantively, Forsé and Parodi argue that tolerant individual choices do not produce segregation, and therefore that racial ghettos do not « result from innocent decisions. » While the authors identify important issues, their conclusions are potentially misleading and merit fuller discussion in light of contemporary research into segregation in particular and analytical sociology and complex social system dynamics more broadly.