Miedema, Jente (2025) Changing views on social inequality: The impact of meritocratic beliefs, social and economic discrimination on attitudes towards social inequality in the Netherlands. Bachelor thesis, Sociology.
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Abstract
Although the Netherlands is still seen as an egalitarian society this might not be the case. Social inequality still persists and significantly influences the lives of many people in the Netherlands. There has been considerable research focusing on this problem, but relatively little on how people perceive it. This is interesting because how people perceive inequality and how inequality actually is can differ greatly from each other (Gimpelson & Treisman, 2018). The main question this research aims to answer is: Does being presented with facts about ethnic discrimination in the Netherlands change an individual's attitudes towards social inequality? Based on the found theories, multiple concepts influence the relationship between the presented facts and one's perception of social inequality. In this research, the role of 3 concepts, economic discrimination, social discrimination and meritocratic beliefs, will be tested. In order to answer this research's main question a hierarchical linear regression was performed. This was done with data that was collected all over the Netherlands from people who are 16 years or older via an online questionnaire. The data was collected by the LISS panel. This leads to multiple outcomes. The first is that when one is confronted with facts about ethnic discrimination this does not alter their opinion towards social inequality. Secondly, there was found proof that the relation between economic discrimination and one's attitude towards social inequality is mediated through social discrimination. Lastly, there was found proof that people who believe in the meritocratic system are more likely to think that the government should change their policies regarding inequality. Further research is necessary to confirm these findings and expand on them. For further research is important to clearly define the used concepts and make a good questionnaire in which the questions clearly refer to the concepts. The insights from this research could lead to more insight into the reasoning of people regarding inequality and might make it easier for policymakers to design policies which a large portion of the citizens agree with.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Redhead, D.J. |
| Degree programme: | Sociology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Sociology] |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2025 10:46 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Jul 2025 10:46 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5549 |
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