Paul Dekker
Biographic Data
| ID | 3797294 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paul Dekker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paul |
| FAMILY NAME | Dekker |
| SIGNATURE | DEKKER P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tilburg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8054-4184 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 183 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 33 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Losers of representation
Dichotomisation between winners and losers is a prominent element of the debate on globalisation, with ordinary workers often considered losers. However, little is known about what workers make of globalisation, how they experience the phenomenon, and how they talk about it. We use a set of focus groups to explore meaning-making on the globalisation of the economy among lower-educated employees of Dutch internationalised firms. We find that they …
Verenigingssociologie
Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community
Meer dan een politieke vertrouwenspiek
More than a boost in political trust: Dutch public opinion during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dutch public opinion was largely characterized by a more positive outlook on society and politics. We give explanations for this rather positive spirit based on literature on earlier crises and we outline the changes in public opinion between January and April 2020 (using the Citizens' Outlooks …
Convergence or divergence? A multilevel analysis of political values in 18 EU countries 1990–2017
Differential item functioning of the PROMIS physical function, pain interference, and pain behavior item banks across patients with different musculoskeletal disorders and persons from the general pop…
Adolescent citizenship and educational track
Studies show adults’ attitudes towards citizenship to be related to their educational level. It has been claimed that higher educated people more often possess ‘good’ citizenship values. However, only limited insight exists into how differences in citizenship attitudes between adolescents from various educational tracks develop over time. In this qualitative longitudinal study, we investigate the perspectives of adolescents from different educati…
From Pillarized Active Membership to Populist Active Citizenship
This contribution about the Netherlands to the special issue [or: section] on volunteering and civic action focuses on changes in public understanding and policy perspectives. Developments since the second half of the nineteenth century show shifting emphases on active membership (based on associational life and typical of the phenomenon of ‘pillarization’), active citizenship (based more on an individual sense of responsibility and more or less …
Convergence on political values? A multi-level analysis of developments in 15 EU countries 2002-2016
Basic core political values differ widely across Europe. From a perspective of European integration a gradual convergence in core political values across European Union countries would be beneficial. Moreover, one would hope that the direction of any possible European value convergence is in accordance with the values stipulated by the European Union. Based on European Social Survey data, developments in public opinion with regard to three person…
Growing into politics? The development of adolescents’ views on democracy over time
This study focuses on how views on democracy develop during adolescence. A total of 40 Dutch adolescents were interviewed in their second and fourth year of secondary education. The study shows that the interviewed adolescents do become more familiar with politics but do not develop more nuanced views towards democracy. As the adolescents age, a one-dimensional perspective on democracy becomes more apparent. In the interviewees’ perspective, demo…
Reinventing Civil Society
Anyone taking stock of the considerations outlined so far encounters a strange paradox. We observe on the one hand that moral sentiments and modern society are very much compatible. Indeed, there have been many developments in the private lives of citizens, the professional lives of employees, the social lives of volunteers and forms of popular culture where modernity and morality converge. On the other hand, we concluded that in the public realm…
Democracy always comes first’
Research shows adolescents to be positively oriented towards democracy, but little is known about what it actually means to them and what their views are on decision-making in both everyday situations and political democracy. To gain insight into these aspects of adolescents’ democratic views, we have interviewed 40 Dutch adolescents from second grade of different types of high school. Potential conflict between various democratic principles prev…
Reinventing civil society
Activism and Civil Society
In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of political activism through an irruption of citizen movements – 5M or Occupy–, the birth of new political platforms –5 Stelle, Zyrisa, Podemos– and the rise of new direct action groups, such as Anonymous, Stop-Evictions Movements, cooperatives, to name just a few. In some countries this activism has not just placed substantial pressure on traditional actors of representative democracy and governm…
Religion and Civil Society in Europe
Religion is back again in Europe after never having been gone. It is manifest in the revival of religious institutions and traditions in former communist countries, in political controversies about the relationship between the church(es) and the state and about the freedom of religion and the freedom to criticize religion, and in public unease about religious minorities. This book is about religion and civil society in Europe. It moves from gener…
Dissolution of Associational Life? Testing the Individualization and Informalization Hypotheses on Leisure Activities in The Netherlands Between 1975 and 2005
In this paper we examine whether individualization and informalization processes have occurred in the field of leisure in The Netherlands, by analyzing the social context of a wide range of activities between 1975 and 2005. We find that the choice of a particular leisure context is dependent on education, gender, year of birth, age and time pressure. We find evidence for informalization, but-contrary to popular belief-not for individualization. T…
Civicness in the Governance and Delivery of Social Services
n Contains fulltext :\n 181228.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)\n
Civicness and the Third Sector
Civility has not been a big topic in the expanding research on civil society during the last two decades. This could well reflect a more general reluctance in the modern social sciences to address moral questions and normative considerations in the investigations. One clear exception is the ''global civil society'' debate, which is concerned with a more normative and political concept than civil society as such (and which is more a subject for so…
Civicness
Activities in civil society, seen as the sphere of society in which voluntary associations are dominant, are considered an important source of civility in modern society. By interacting and finding solutions for common problems, members of associations turn into citizens with a broader perspective and interest in the common good. The evidence for these positive roles is at best mixed, however. Not voluntarily associating in a separate sphere of c…
Mention some of all
In the interpretation of natural language one may distinguish three types of dynamics: there are the acts or moves that are made; there are structural relations between subsequent moves; and interlocutors reason about the beliefs and intentions of the participants in a particular language game. Building on some of the formalisms developed to account for the first two types of dynamics, I will generalize and formalize Gricean insights into the thi…
New Participant Role Scales
The present study was set up with two aims in mind. First, to assess the psychometric characteristics of a peer‐report measure of bullying in a Dutch sample, and second, to compare relative and absolute ways of assigning roles in the bullying process. The sample consisted of 242 children (51% boys; mean age approximately 10 years) at T1. Two years later, there were 247 children (49% boys). We made use of an adaptation of the original Participant …
Involvement in voluntary associations in North America and Western Europe
There is no lack of studies that point at discomforting trends in community life and citizens' social and political involvement in contemporary society. According to various indicators, Americans have become increasingly disconnected from their families, friends, neighbours and associations, leading to a decline of civic community and social trust and to more individual unhappiness. Similar developments are supposed to take place elsewhere. In th…
The Netherlands
This book explores Europe's third sector – the non-profit organisations and providers of social services such as mutuals, co-operatives, associations, voluntary organisations and charities: these elements of a civil society are important yet often overlooked features in contemporary socio-economics and social policy.
Social Capital and Participation in Everyday Life
The Values of Volunteering
Pronouns in a pragmatic semantics
Civil Society in Comparative Perspective
Involvement in voluntary associations is analyzed from the perspective of questions raised in the debate about civil society. After demarcating the concept of civil society in relation to the community, the market, and the state, expectations are formulated about the negative effects of modernization and individualization on volunteering and the positive effects of volunteering on social capital and public discourse. World Values 1990 data are us…
Working‐class authoritarianism
Almost thirty years ago Lipset published his well‐known article ‘Democracy and working‐class authoritarianism’. His central thesis is that the working class more than other social classes, is predisposed to authoritarian and anti‐democratic attitudes. Several authors have criticized this thesis, especially by questioning Lipset's concept of democracy. Our approach is somewhat different in that in our opinion Lipset's conceptualization and measure…
Civicness
Activities in civil society, seen as the sphere of society in which voluntary associations are dominant, are considered an important source of civility in modern society. By interacting and finding solutions for common problems, members of associations turn into citizens with a broader perspective and interest in the common good. The evidence for these positive roles is at best mixed, however. Not voluntarily associating in a separate sphere of c…
Involvement in voluntary associations in North America and Western Europe
There is no lack of studies that point at discomforting trends in community life and citizens' social and political involvement in contemporary society. According to various indicators, Americans have become increasingly disconnected from their families, friends, neighbours and associations, leading to a decline of civic community and social trust and to more individual unhappiness. Similar developments are supposed to take place elsewhere. In th…
Dissolution of Associational Life? Testing the Individualization and Informalization Hypotheses on Leisure Activities in The Netherlands Between 1975 and 2005
In this paper we examine whether individualization and informalization processes have occurred in the field of leisure in The Netherlands, by analyzing the social context of a wide range of activities between 1975 and 2005. We find that the choice of a particular leisure context is dependent on education, gender, year of birth, age and time pressure. We find evidence for informalization, but-contrary to popular belief-not for individualization. T…
Depillarization, Deconfessionalization, and De-Ideologization
From Pillarized Active Membership to Populist Active Citizenship
This contribution about the Netherlands to the special issue [or: section] on volunteering and civic action focuses on changes in public understanding and policy perspectives. Developments since the second half of the nineteenth century show shifting emphases on active membership (based on associational life and typical of the phenomenon of ‘pillarization’), active citizenship (based more on an individual sense of responsibility and more or less …
Democracy always comes first’
Research shows adolescents to be positively oriented towards democracy, but little is known about what it actually means to them and what their views are on decision-making in both everyday situations and political democracy. To gain insight into these aspects of adolescents’ democratic views, we have interviewed 40 Dutch adolescents from second grade of different types of high school. Potential conflict between various democratic principles prev…
New Participant Role Scales
The present study was set up with two aims in mind. First, to assess the psychometric characteristics of a peer‐report measure of bullying in a Dutch sample, and second, to compare relative and absolute ways of assigning roles in the bullying process. The sample consisted of 242 children (51% boys; mean age approximately 10 years) at T1. Two years later, there were 247 children (49% boys). We made use of an adaptation of the original Participant …
Convergence on political values? A multi-level analysis of developments in 15 EU countries 2002-2016
Basic core political values differ widely across Europe. From a perspective of European integration a gradual convergence in core political values across European Union countries would be beneficial. Moreover, one would hope that the direction of any possible European value convergence is in accordance with the values stipulated by the European Union. Based on European Social Survey data, developments in public opinion with regard to three person…
Growing into politics? The development of adolescents’ views on democracy over time
This study focuses on how views on democracy develop during adolescence. A total of 40 Dutch adolescents were interviewed in their second and fourth year of secondary education. The study shows that the interviewed adolescents do become more familiar with politics but do not develop more nuanced views towards democracy. As the adolescents age, a one-dimensional perspective on democracy becomes more apparent. In the interviewees’ perspective, demo…
Civicness and the Third Sector
Civility has not been a big topic in the expanding research on civil society during the last two decades. This could well reflect a more general reluctance in the modern social sciences to address moral questions and normative considerations in the investigations. One clear exception is the ''global civil society'' debate, which is concerned with a more normative and political concept than civil society as such (and which is more a subject for so…
Elite perceptions of mass preferences in The Netherlands; biases in cognitive responsiveness
Several studies have shown dissimilarities between political leaders and voters in terms of political attitudes and policy preferences. Though many explanations have been offered for this phenomenon, the knowledge factor has been overlooked. The basic question of this paper is how knowledgeable politicians are of the political opinions of their voters as well as of the general public. Forty‐six national Dutch politicians were asked to estimate th…
Authoritarianism and the concept of class; a reply to Middendorp and Meloen
Our reply to the forgoing article by Middendorp and Meloen rejects their critique for three reasons: their requirement of ‘empirical validity’has no relevance with respect to our argumentation to use E.O. Wright's class measurements. they fail to see the relational and qualitative character of the class measurements we used, and they do not show any empirical evidence which contradicts our findings. We do agree with Middendorp and Meloen on the i…
Ray and working‐class authoritarianism
Convergence or divergence? A multilevel analysis of political values in 18 EU countries 1990–2017
Adolescent citizenship and educational track
Studies show adults’ attitudes towards citizenship to be related to their educational level. It has been claimed that higher educated people more often possess ‘good’ citizenship values. However, only limited insight exists into how differences in citizenship attitudes between adolescents from various educational tracks develop over time. In this qualitative longitudinal study, we investigate the perspectives of adolescents from different educati…
Environmental involvement in four West European countries
Much research on collective environmental action has been conducted within the broader context of the study of new social movements. The environment as a universal object of political participation is taken for granted, as is its transnational aspect. However, collective actors organize a wide range of activities in different institutional settings, with different goals and different addressees, not only governments but also consumers and produce…
Working‐class authoritarianism
Almost thirty years ago Lipset published his well‐known article ‘Democracy and working‐class authoritarianism’. His central thesis is that the working class more than other social classes, is predisposed to authoritarian and anti‐democratic attitudes. Several authors have criticized this thesis, especially by questioning Lipset's concept of democracy. Our approach is somewhat different in that in our opinion Lipset's conceptualization and measure…
Attribution of Mutual Personality Traits by Employed and Unemployed Subjects
This study shows that both the employed and the unemployed subjects tend to attribute positive traits more to employed people and negative traits more to unemployed people. Employed subjects believe positive traits to be more characteristic for employed than for unemployed people, whereas attribution of negative traits does not differentiate between employed and unemployed subjects. The hypothesis that negative dispositional attribution by employ…
Elite perceptions of mass preferences in The Netherlands; biases in cognitive responsiveness
Several studies have shown dissimilarities between political leaders and voters in terms of political attitudes and policy preferences. Though many explanations have been offered for this phenomenon, the knowledge factor has been overlooked. The basic question of this paper is how knowledgeable politicians are of the political opinions of their voters as well as of the general public. Forty‐six national Dutch politicians were asked to estimate th…
Authoritarianism and the concept of class; a reply to Middendorp and Meloen
Our reply to the forgoing article by Middendorp and Meloen rejects their critique for three reasons: their requirement of ‘empirical validity’has no relevance with respect to our argumentation to use E.O. Wright's class measurements. they fail to see the relational and qualitative character of the class measurements we used, and they do not show any empirical evidence which contradicts our findings. We do agree with Middendorp and Meloen on the i…
The Political Distinctiveness of Young Professionals
It has been widely suggested in the media that yuppies (Young Urban Professionals) are becoming a major cultural and political sector of modern society. The distinctive nature of their social and political views is attributed to a fairly unique combination of liberal political views and conservative economic attitudes. They are also thought to have little political involvement and to place a strong emphasis on individual welfare. Using Dutch soci…
Authoritarianism, socio‐demographic variables and racism
(1991). Authoritarianism, socio‐demographic variables and racism: A Dutch replication of Billig and Cramer. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 287-293
Ray and working‐class authoritarianism
Environmental involvement in four West European countries
Much research on collective environmental action has been conducted within the broader context of the study of new social movements. The environment as a universal object of political participation is taken for granted, as is its transnational aspect. However, collective actors organize a wide range of activities in different institutional settings, with different goals and different addressees, not only governments but also consumers and produce…
Depillarization, Deconfessionalization, and De-Ideologization
Religion, Culture and Environmental Concern
Dans un essai provocateur qui est devenu un classique, Lynn White a soutenu que l'heritage judeo-chretien est le principal responsable de la crise environnementale que traverse actuellement l'Occident. Selon cet auteur, le christianisme encourage une vision anthropocentrique et instrumentale de la nature et de l'environnement. Une autre contribution importante a la recherche de facteurs culturels ayant un impact sur les attitudes environnementale…
Speaker's reference, descriptions and information structure
The notion of information developed in systems of dynamic semantics is applied in an analysis of the referential interpretation of definite descriptions, and the specific interpretation of indefinite ones. A Russellian treatment of descriptions is upgraded with the dynamic semantic notion of a discourse referent, and this enables a combination of contextually given information with information which is properly semantic. The analysis is sharpened…
Civil Society in Comparative Perspective
Involvement in voluntary associations is analyzed from the perspective of questions raised in the debate about civil society. After demarcating the concept of civil society in relation to the community, the market, and the state, expectations are formulated about the negative effects of modernization and individualization on volunteering and the positive effects of volunteering on social capital and public discourse. World Values 1990 data are us…
Pronouns in a pragmatic semantics
Social Capital and Participation in Everyday Life
The Values of Volunteering
The Netherlands
This book explores Europe's third sector – the non-profit organisations and providers of social services such as mutuals, co-operatives, associations, voluntary organisations and charities: these elements of a civil society are important yet often overlooked features in contemporary socio-economics and social policy.
Involvement in voluntary associations in North America and Western Europe
There is no lack of studies that point at discomforting trends in community life and citizens' social and political involvement in contemporary society. According to various indicators, Americans have become increasingly disconnected from their families, friends, neighbours and associations, leading to a decline of civic community and social trust and to more individual unhappiness. Similar developments are supposed to take place elsewhere. In th…
Mention some of all
In the interpretation of natural language one may distinguish three types of dynamics: there are the acts or moves that are made; there are structural relations between subsequent moves; and interlocutors reason about the beliefs and intentions of the participants in a particular language game. Building on some of the formalisms developed to account for the first two types of dynamics, I will generalize and formalize Gricean insights into the thi…
New Participant Role Scales
The present study was set up with two aims in mind. First, to assess the psychometric characteristics of a peer‐report measure of bullying in a Dutch sample, and second, to compare relative and absolute ways of assigning roles in the bullying process. The sample consisted of 242 children (51% boys; mean age approximately 10 years) at T1. Two years later, there were 247 children (49% boys). We made use of an adaptation of the original Participant …
Civicness and the Third Sector
Civility has not been a big topic in the expanding research on civil society during the last two decades. This could well reflect a more general reluctance in the modern social sciences to address moral questions and normative considerations in the investigations. One clear exception is the ''global civil society'' debate, which is concerned with a more normative and political concept than civil society as such (and which is more a subject for so…
Civicness
Activities in civil society, seen as the sphere of society in which voluntary associations are dominant, are considered an important source of civility in modern society. By interacting and finding solutions for common problems, members of associations turn into citizens with a broader perspective and interest in the common good. The evidence for these positive roles is at best mixed, however. Not voluntarily associating in a separate sphere of c…
Civicness in the Governance and Delivery of Social Services
n Contains fulltext :\n 181228.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)\n
Dissolution of Associational Life? Testing the Individualization and Informalization Hypotheses on Leisure Activities in The Netherlands Between 1975 and 2005
In this paper we examine whether individualization and informalization processes have occurred in the field of leisure in The Netherlands, by analyzing the social context of a wide range of activities between 1975 and 2005. We find that the choice of a particular leisure context is dependent on education, gender, year of birth, age and time pressure. We find evidence for informalization, but-contrary to popular belief-not for individualization. T…
Religion and Civil Society in Europe
Religion is back again in Europe after never having been gone. It is manifest in the revival of religious institutions and traditions in former communist countries, in political controversies about the relationship between the church(es) and the state and about the freedom of religion and the freedom to criticize religion, and in public unease about religious minorities. This book is about religion and civil society in Europe. It moves from gener…
Reinventing civil society
Political science (28 works) · Law (24 works) · Sociology (23 works) · Politics (22 works) · Law (16 works) · Economics (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Democracy (10 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · Civil society (9 works)