Government Knowledge Practice Test 2026 – Complete Exam Prep

De facto segregation means segregation that exists in practice, not because a law requires it. It shows up through everyday patterns, choices, and social and institutional factors that produce separated communities even when no statute mandates such separation. This is why “practice or circumstance” is the best description: it captures how segregation can arise from how people live, where housing and schools are located, economic differences, and other real-world conditions. The other options fall short because they’re too narrow—segregation in fact isn’t limited to economic status or geography alone, and it isn’t defined by race by itself, since multiple factors can create the actual separation people experience.