PhD defence M.J. (Thijs) Lindner

Understanding Welfare Attitudes: A cultural-sociological approach

On Friday 15 November 2024, M.J. Lindner will defend the doctoral thesis titled: Understanding Welfare Attitudes: A cultural-sociological approach

Promotor
Prof.dr. W. de Koster
Promotor
Prof.dr. J. van der Waal
Date
Friday 15 Nov 2024, 13:00 - 14:30
Type
PhD defence
Space
Senate Hall
Building
Erasmus Building
Location
Campus Woudestein
Add to calendar
More information

The public defence will begin exactly at 13.00 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers may be able to watch on the screen outside. There is no possibility of entrance during the first part of the ceremony. Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony. 

A live stream link has been provided to the candidate. 

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.

Compare @count study programme

  • @title

    • Duration: @duration
Compare study programmes