PhD defence R. (Roy) Kemmers

Dissertation in short:

Attention for popular political discontents has surged in recent decades. Rather than analysing levels of political distrust, support for populist parties and non-voting from a relative distance, in this book Roy Kemmers argues that it is important to take an in-depth look at the nature and meanings of these discontents for ordinary citizens. The research design consists of inductive (Grounded Theory) methodologies for the first three empirical chapters: qualitative content analysis of letters to the editor, and in-depth interviews with discontented citizens. In the fourth empirical chapter, a deductive research design assesses representative surveys of the Dutch population to test the theory that is proposed in the previous chapter. The different empirical analyses in this dissertation demonstrate i) three types of allegations against politics: incompetence, alienation, and corruption; ii) that people go through a (gradual) process of becoming politically discontented based on their own research; iii) that the impact of discontents on people’s meaningful political agency depends on (the novel concept of) power orientations; and iv) that these power orientations have electoral relevance. Since this book demonstrates the value of focusing social research on the meanings people attach to their actions, Kemmers concludes with an argument for more cultural-sociological sensitivity in knowledge production on politics and society.