Theme 5: Social inequality and diversity

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Open University (OU), Radboud University (RU), Tilburg University (TiU), Maastricht University (UM), Utrecht University (UU), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit (VU) and Wageningen University (WUR) are working on this theme. The coordinator is Dr W.P.C. (Wouter) van Gent of the UvA.

The central theme: inequality

The theme of Social Inequality and Diversity (MOeD) stems from concerns about the increasing differences in how different groups in societies are able to cope. There is a risk that social status, life chances and well-being are determined to a certain extent by factors that are already fixed at birth, such as socio-economic background, ethnicity and health. This inequality becomes more complex as our societies become more diverse. Citizens occupy a wider range of social positions in terms of origin, household, religion, sexuality, gender and class, with associated socio-cultural beliefs, social networks and political views. These differences are not directly related to economic inequalities, but they can intersect with them in many ways, with all the social consequences that entails.

The MOeD sectorplan theme is a necessary long-term effort to develop knowledge and strategies to effectively deal with diversity in society, including policy, and to ensure that broad groups in society are not excluded and continue to feel socially connected. In addition, the theme aims to gain a better understanding of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of multiple inequalities in order to implement approaches that can increase resilience, health and well-being.

The MOeD network has broad expertise on issues of diversity and inequality in the areas of economics and employment, digital and technological development, environment and the environment, health and well-being, and democracy and governance. More than 50 Sectorplan-funded academic staff are affiliated with the theme. They are positioned within thirteen disciplinary units (psychology, sociology, public administration, etc.) at ten faculties at nine universities. They are supported by eleven local coordinators who coordinate Sectorplan activities and meetings at faculty and inter-university level. We have formulated five priorities for inter-university collaboration.

In order to capitalise on this expertise across the sector, we are focusing on increasing the degree of organisation by bringing together and integrating existing research across disciplinary boundaries and academic institutions. In doing so, we also aim to innovate education, develop new research methodologies and increase research impact, together with societal partners. We do this on the basis of five priorities: labour and work, health and well-being, migration and integration, climate and justice, co-creation and participation.

Priority: Inequality and diversity in work, organisations and the labour market

The Dutch labour market is changing rapidly due to technological innovation, demographic developments, migration and flexibilisation. These trends have implications for employment, organisational practices and the distribution of opportunities. Differences in gender, age, health, migration background and educational level continue to play a role in access to work, career development and job security. In addition, new technologies such as algorithmic decision-making and AI-supported HR processes raise questions about transparency, inclusiveness and equal treatment. Changing European and national regulations also require organisations to provide explicit guarantees in the areas of equal opportunities, diversity and responsible use of technology. This makes it necessary to systematically analyse inequality and diversity within the broader context of the future of work.

The Sectorplan focuses on understanding how different forms of inequality and diversity play out within labour markets and organisations, and individual careers, and how technological changes and changes in regulations influence these dynamics. We investigate this from different perspectives, including:

Inequality in access to work

We investigate structural inequalities in access to work. Who has access to work, who gets opportunities to advance and who doesn’t, who gets better working conditions, and how do social categories such as gender, age, sexuality, education, disability and migration background play a role in this? How can we break down prejudices and barriers on the employer side? And what is the effect of education, DEI policy and corporate communication?

2. Precariousness and flexibilisation of work

Here, the focus is on insecure work, such as temporary contracts, platform work, freelance arrangements and other forms of flexibility and insecurity within work. We study how differences in income security, social protection and pension accrual develop over the life course, and how, within this institutional context, family dynamics, for example, are related to vulnerable employment positions, precarious careers and poverty.

3. Employers, collaboration and governance

This perspective examines how the role of work relates to how companies and organisations function and change, and how this affects employee-employer relationships. The focus is on issues surrounding organisational behaviour, governance and coordination in a context in which digitisation, hybrid work and social expectations are making organisations more complex.

4. Migration and work

Here we examine the role of migration in the labour market. The focus is on the position of migrant workers and how factors such as regulations, housing, mobility and social networks influence their access to work, working conditions and career opportunities.

5. Work, health and well-being

Here we focus on work-related well-being, sustainable employability, self-regulation, work-life balance and job design. The emphasis is on how companies can support employees in an environment of changing demands and increasing digitalisation. What inequalities play a role in this?

Priority: Inequality and diversity in health and well-being

Health and well-being disparities between groups are increasing in the Netherlands. These inequalities follow structural lines of socio-economic position, migration background, gender and access to resources. On average, people living in poverty are less healthy, experience more chronic stress and have a shorter life expectancy. These differences arise early in life, accumulate over the course of a lifetime and have an impact on education, labour participation and social engagement. Reducing these inequalities is urgent for an inclusive, just and resilient society.

The Sectorplan focuses on understanding and reducing inequalities in health and well-being, with explicit attention to diversity in families, life courses and social contexts. The central question is how social inequality translates into unequal health outcomes, and which social, cultural and institutional processes perpetuate or can reduce these differences. Poverty, chronic stress, discrimination and unequal access to appropriate care play a central role in this. In addition, specific attention is paid to the role of digitisation and algorithmic decision-making in care and welfare, which can reduce existing inequalities, but can also reinforce them by creating new forms of exclusion or selective visibility. Research within this theme combines quantitative and qualitative approaches and focuses on co-creation with professionals, policymakers and experts by experience, so that knowledge and interventions are in line with the real world and practice.

Health and welfare

We approach health from a holistic perspective: as a broad, relational state of physical, mental and social well-being and the ability of people to cope with physical, emotional and social challenges. This approach emphasises that health arises from continuous interaction between individuals, social structures and material and digital environments, including non-human actors such as technology, and is more than the absence of disease.

Given the complexity of health and well-being inequalities, explaining and reducing them requires a distinctly interdisciplinary approach. The Sectorplan combines insights from social and health psychology, anthropology and ethnography, health sciences and ethics, educational sciences, public administration, and behavioural and welfare economics. Some example questions are:

How do socio-economic and cultural inequalities translate into differences in health and well-being across the life course?
How can care and support systems better serve families and citizens from diverse backgrounds?
What role do digital technologies and data-driven decision-making play in increasing or decreasing health inequalities?
How can policy reduce structural inequalities and strengthen inclusion and justice?

Priority: Migration, integration & diversity

Like many other European countries, the Netherlands has experienced several waves of migration since the Second World War. Initially, decolonisation and the need to fill labour shortages were important drivers. Subsequently, family reunification, refugees, European unification, the appeal of the knowledge economy and global population growth (and with it migration dynamics) have resulted in a large group of people with a migration background.

Society is not only changing under the influence of migration. The so-called “second demographic transition” has been taking place for half a century now. The diversity of households, as well as the multiple meanings and changing relationships based on gender and sexuality, have led to greater diversity in life courses and forms of cohabitation. In combination with economic class, (sub)cultures and religious backgrounds, we can speak of “superdiversity”.

These demographic changes are seen as both an enrichment and a threat to Dutch society and the economy. The “integration debate” has been raging for thirty years now, and the moral panic in politics seems to be here to stay. At the same time, this debate is being overtaken by a new demographic and political reality. Migration is necessary for the preservation of the welfare state and economic growth, and the children and grandchildren of migrants are wholeheartedly claiming their place in Dutch society. Among other things, this has led to more attention being paid to the legacy of slavery and colonialism. We are also seeing that gender relations and household structures have changed permanently and that both individual freedoms and community commitments are still cherished. In other words, Dutch society is enormously diverse, both socially and culturally.

The Sectorplan focuses on how Dutch society can best deal with, and even benefit from, social diversity. The starting point is not a matter of politics but of social reality. Population changes are irreversible but constantly changing in form. The social response is also changeable, given the changing media and electoral landscapes, which are increasingly influenced by digital platforms and global geopolitics.

Researchers are working with social partners and stakeholders to develop research and education that shed light on social challenges. To understand processes and responses, researchers focus on a wide range of topics related to migration, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and life course. In general terms, they focus on the following questions:

How do social inequality and diversity interact with gender, migration, religion, education and labour market position, and life course in everyday and social processes?
What are the drivers of migration, and how are the mobility and settlement of (knowledge) migrants and refugees determined?
How do different forms of diversity play out in the domains of entrepreneurship, labour, health, housing, and social and democratic participation?
How do (post)colonial power relations play out in knowledge production today?

Priority: Environment, climate and justice

The everyday environment, often around the home, plays an important role in inequality and diversity. Where people live and their daily routines structure social networks, filter political information and lead to exposure to positive and negative environmental factors (e.g. environmental quality, physical risks, social role models, facilities). These spatial advantages and disadvantages are unevenly distributed and can also have different outcomes for different groups of citizens. While some population groups are part of society, others are excluded. Many excluded groups are dependent on unchosen living environments.

The uncertainty about finding a decent and affordable place to live is exacerbated by the context of climate change. The increased direct risks of drought, salinisation and flooding are increasingly being factored into housing market dynamics. This calls for interventions to make the Netherlands and other countries climate neutral. Examples include the energy transition, green infrastructure and ecological planning. Like the risks, these interventions are often unevenly distributed. They often have a major impact on social inequality and diversity, either because certain groups are excluded or because the additional costs are unaffordable for them. Interdisciplinary research is crucial to making the Netherlands and other countries climate neutral in a socially just manner.

The Sectorplan aims to use an interdisciplinary approach, with experts from various Dutch universities, to understand the production of social inequality around environmental and climate issues and to seek more inclusive solutions.

Firstly, by gaining a better understanding of how the environment and spatial processes perpetuate and reinforce social inequalities around class, gender and sexuality. Such work is relevant to regional and urban policy, local welfare work and neighbourhood and citizen initiatives at all levels.

In addition, the research focuses on developing social science frameworks that can explain the ecology of natural changes and limited resources from a human and societal perspective. In other words: translating the hard scientific discussions about emissions and change into social perspectives on the interaction between economics, politics and nature. Gaining a grasp of these processes provides new entry points for effective climate policy.

Finally, the research concerns recognising the consequences of climate measures and how different groups and actors can be affected in different ways by measures. This is where the term “justice” comes in, in the way this research recognises the disproportionate differences in the consequences of climate change for groups and places that have historically been disadvantaged.

Example questions are:

How does the environment determine the well-being and life chances of social minorities and oppressed groups?
How does inclusion and exclusion take place around climate issues?
How do developments in urban planning, (green) infrastructure, energy transition and ecological changes impact social inequality and diversity?
What are the best practices for more inclusive interventions?
How can we work towards a Netherlands where climate-focused interventions are socially inclusive?
How can the Netherlands play a pioneering role in the field of climate justice?

Priority: Co-creation and participation for an inclusive society

Inequality has a major impact on who participates in the democratic process and who does not. People in vulnerable positions – due to poverty, migration experience, limited access to information or distrust of institutions – are structurally less likely to be heard. This increases social distance and undermines the legitimacy of policy.

Research shows that inclusive decision-making is only possible when diverse groups can actually influence knowledge production and policy-making. At the same time, research on inequality is often conducted on groups that experience exclusion, marginalisation or other forms of structural inequality, by researchers who usually have no personal experience of this. The perspectives of communities in need are rarely the starting point for research. In order to design policy or research that truly contributes to reducing inequality, it is important to connect a diversity of perspectives. Consider, for example, research on racism, where the perspective of communities experiencing racism in the Netherlands has been crucial for both science and society to recognise and investigate racism as a serious problem.

The Sectorplan focuses on understanding barriers to political and social participation and on developing new, equal forms of cooperation. Co-creation means connecting and jointly developing different types of knowledge in dialogue with each other, with a strong focus on the perspective of people who experience exclusion or are marginalised. This means taking the knowledge of groups of people who are often the subject of research seriously as a starting point for research, and incorporating this knowledge into different phases of knowledge production. Not only individual experience, but also collective forms of knowledge that arise from sharing experiences in communities are important in this regard.

Co-creation between academics, professionals, policymakers, citizen scientists and experts by experience is central: from shared problem definition to joint interpretation of results. This approach improves both the quality of research and education and their usefulness in practice.