prof.dr. W (Willem) de Koster

Biography

As a cultural sociologist, I aim to rigorously scrutinize how social groups give meaning to social issues, how this informs their actions and how it shapes their responses to new information and the (urban) environment they live in.

Scholars and policymakers increasingly recognize that such an eye for culture is crucial for understanding pressing social issues, ranging from societal clashes about democratic institutions and policies to unresponsiveness to information campaigns, and from obesity to resistance to governmental health campaigns.

I aim for interdisciplinary research endeavors addressing contemporary social issues through both quantitative and qualitative methods, ranging from multilevel analyses, survey experiments, Implicit Association Tests and Diagonal Reference Models to qualitative content analyses, focus groups and in-depth interviews. Currently, I collaborate with scholars in arts and culture studies, psychology, public administration, public health, urban geography and sociology.

My research has been supported by grants (Conflict & Security and personal VENI and VIDI grants) awarded by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), an EUR Fellowship and several smaller grants.

I am proud that the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities has given me the award for "Best PhD Supervisor".

In addition to my research activities, I teach various courses, among others in Erasmus University's Master specialization Politics & Society (which I co-founded) and the top-rated Research Master in Sociology of Culture, Media and the Arts.

I also serve as board member of the Netherlands Sociological Association, as reviewer for various journals, and on the editorial board of the Dutch-Flemish peer-reviewed journal Tijdschrift Sociologie.

For an up-to-date overview of my research and teaching, please visit my Google Scholar Profile and my personal website.

Research interests: cultural conflict, political attitudes and behaviors, information provision, voting behavior, populism, welfare chauvinism, obesity, health behaviors