Wilborts, Veerle (2025) Nothing to Lose? How New Financial Policies Impact Support for Radical Action Among University Students in the Netherlands. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
This study examines how recent financial policies in education in the Netherlands, such as severe budget cuts, reduced basic grants, increased loan interest rates, and the threat of a study delay fine, influence students’ support for collective action. The study is grounded in the Social Identity Theory (SIT) and expanded through the Nothing-to-Lose (NTL) framework. It explores how perceived financial disadvantage (PFD), group efficacy, group identification, nationality, and belief in conspiracy theories interact to predict support for both moderate and radical forms of collective action. A survey conducted among first-year psychology students at the University of Groningen (N = 277) measured the support for three action types: moderate, radical without aggression, and radical with aggression. Results show that higher PFD predicted greater support for collective action in general and that this relationship was strongest for moderate action and weakened once the action became more radical and more aggressive. While the group efficacy manipulation had a limited effect on its own, its interaction with PFD revealed increased support for radical (non-aggressive) action in the low group efficacy condition. Group identification strengthened support for both moderate and radical (non-aggressive) actions but decreased support when aggression was involved. International students showed significantly higher levels of activism in general compared to Dutch students, and belief in conspiracy theories partially mediated the relationship between PFD and support for radical action. These findings provided additional support for the NTL explanation of radicalisation and offered new insights into the mechanisms influencing collective action among students, deepening our understanding of the processes in which disadvantaged individuals radicalise.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Spears, R. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2025 12:46 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 12:46 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5813 |
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