PhD defence M.J. (Thijs) Lindner

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

Many Dutch people consider an extensive social security system important. But what do such views mean for people themselves? And what impact do people’s worldviews have on pressing issues? In this dissertation, Thijs Lindner investigates these questions. He held qualitative interviews, collected representative survey data, and used innovative research methods such as focus groups, survey experiments, and cluster analyses.

He finds that citizens have different understandings of welfare benefits: as self-responsibility and reciprocity, as participation and solidarity, or as well-being and self-development. Additionally, he discovers that Dutch people attribute entirely different meanings to the issue of immigrants’ welfare entitlement. For some, this is primarily based on economic motives, while for others, religious reasons play a key role. As a result, seemingly identical positions on these issues may well reflect altogether different substantive positions.
He also examined the effect of information about the overrepresentation of ethnic minority individuals among welfare recipients. Among a significant portion of the population that is distrustful of other ethnic groups, exposure to such information boosts negative stereotypes about welfare recipients.
Finally, his research shows that information about high levels of inequality in the Netherlands does influence views on redistribution, but not support for a much-debated measure—a universal basic income. This is likely because many find it too radical.

These findings have important implications for our understanding of welfare attitudes, particularly for politicians, policymakers, and academics engaged in social policy and public opinion research.