{"id":141974,"date":"2022-06-28T14:08:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T12:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=141974"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:21","slug":"why-political-discontent-does-not-always-equal-apathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/06\/28\/why-political-discontent-does-not-always-equal-apathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why political discontent does not always equal apathy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Netherlands, political discontent generally manifests itself in people either voting for a populist party or not casting a vote at all. What is the story behind this statistic? Sociologist Roy Kemmers sought to answer this question for ten years and was recently awarded a PhD for doing so.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What is your PhD dissertation about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAbout political discontent. When I\u2019m attending a party, I\u2019ll generally tell people, \u2018It\u2019s about why people hate politics.\u2019 People often discuss whether people have gained or lost faith in politicians, and why, but those are quantitative discussions with which I don\u2019t really feel comfortable, because they don\u2019t tell you anything about the nature of the discontent. I want to know what it means for the people themselves. That bottom-up approach is often lacking in analyses.\u201d<\/p>\n

I read in your preface that you\u2019re from a working-class family. Do your relatives have any idea of what this subject is about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMost people in my family don\u2019t really get it, but they don\u2019t really get what happens at universities in general, either. They had no idea what my PhD defence ceremony was going to be like, either. For instance, my father asked if the occasion was exclusively for me or whether a lot of other people were going to be awarded such things, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did he feel about your PhD defence ceremony?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe absolutely loved it! He told the entire neighbourhood about it. I live in the same neighbourhood. Actually, I live in the same street in Naaldwijk, so all my neighbours would congratulate me when they saw me in the street. \u2018So now you\u2019re a doctor of sociology, huh?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you go about conducting your research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI first checked which group had the highest political discontent rate, statistically speaking. They turned out to be people who voted for PVV, closely followed by people who didn\u2019t vote at all. In one chapter, I talked to eighteen respondents from both groups to find out what caused them to turn their backs on the political establishment. Another chapter deals with the differences between those groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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