Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 97, Issue 4, 2022

The calm before the storm? Investigating tolerance for political violence in the Netherlands

Scholars increasingly worry about an increase in citizens’ tolerance for political violence. The present research aimed to gauge tolerance for political violence in the Netherlands and investigate its predictors. In Study 1, tolerance for political violence was assessed in a representative sample of Dutch citizens (N = 515) in a preregistered survey. Results showed that, depending on the wording of the question, 2% to 19% of participants supported the use of political violence. In Study 2, data from the Dutch part of the European Values Study (N = 2,404) was used to investigate predictors of tolerance for political violence. The results revealed that participants with lower incomes and participants who indicated that the Netherlands is not governed democratically indicated higher levels of tolerance. This suggests that economic uncertainty and perceptions of political legitimacy are the main drivers of tolerance for political violence.

Intersectional sex and country of origin differences in non-employment: an explanation based on social capital.

In this article we study to what extent intersectional sex- and country of origin differences in non-employment in the Netherlands are mediated by social capital. Hypotheses are formulated based on literature concerning intersectionality, social resources, traditional gender roles and homogeneous social preferences. We expect that certain groups are more vulnerable to non-employment than other groups, in part because fewer of their strong social ties are currently active in the labour market. We estimated structural equation models using data from the LISS-panel. We find that having fewer ties that have paid employment is linked to a higher chance of being non-employed. Moreover, we find that people from certain social groups have a higher chance of being unemployed. For women with a non-western migration background we find that a part of the higher risk for non-employment can be attributed to a lack of social capital.

Police legitimacy: The importance of procedural justice in the Netherlands

The current study tests two assumptions in procedural justice theory by examining (a) to what extent is the relationship between police procedural justice and police legitimacy stronger in comparison with competing determinants like distributive justice and police effectiveness, and (b) to what extent does the strength of the relationship between police procedural justice and police legitimacy differ across individual and contextual differences (also termed the ‘invariance thesis’). These assumptions are tested using Dutch data from the European Social Survey (N = 1.442). The results show that police procedural justice is most strongly related to police legitimacy. Furthermore, police procedural justice has an invariant effect on police legitimacy across all characteristics (age, gender, education level, immigrant background, contact with police, victimization, fear of crime in neighborhood, fear of crime at home).

The intergenerational transmission of an extreme belief systems: Theoretical exploration of a new field of study

With the recent rise and fall of IS, academics and policy makers around the world are expressing concerns about the fate of children of former foreign fighters. Will they follow in their parents’ footsteps? In this paper, we argue that in light of this discussion, the intergenerational transmission of extreme beliefs deserves a research agenda of its own. The transmission of extreme ideologies, such as extremism and cultism, constitutes a unique topic, not previously captured in traditional transmission studies. The concepts commonly used in popular media, such as ‘brainwashing’ and ‘indoctrination’, similarly fall short when trying to understand this phenomenon. Instead, a multidisciplinary approach centered around the concept intergenerational transmission is proposed. We present some of our preliminary literature findings on this topic, and consider their relation to broader theoretical frameworks. We conclude with several considerations and suggestions for future research, to better understand the intergenerational transmission of extreme ideologies in all its complexity.