This focus area adresses the social context of health and well-being, with a particular emphasis on social inequality.

How did persistent social inequalities first emerge? What cultural trajectories and institutions made this key development possible? How can archaeological inform us about the formation of class societies?

This article explores how notions of citizenship are negotiated in encounters between parents and youth care professionals in Amsterdam in the context of heated debates over citizenship and belonging. We draw on ethnographic research on Egyptian migrant parents’ interactions with the welfare state,…

Bleda Düring was interviewed alongside researchers working on ancient religions and primates, for an article in the Swiss magazine bref on the emergence of social inequalities. Although perspectives on the rise of social inequalities differ between these researchers they all agree more research on how…

A better understanding of inequality to help create a fairer, more just society.

Archaeologist Prof Bleda Düring has been awarded a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for his research on the emergence of social inequalities in the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age in Cyprus. Using excavations, isotope analysis and cultural interpretations, he investigates how and why…

Following China and Italy, it appears that the United States is becoming the next epicentre of the coronacrisis. Can the US handle this crisis? Is president Trump dealing with the situation correctly? We asked Leiden America expert Sara Polak.

School pupils are all different, which is why there is differentiation in our education system. This can be seen in pre-university education and lower vocational schools, and also takes the form of ability groups in junior schools. But according to Professor by Special Appointment Eddie Denessen, differentiation…

What does an unequal society lead to if it's not responded to by politicians? What happens when people are no longer waiting for something good to happen to them? An international perspective can give us possible answers.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Jan-Hendrik Evertse, Co-promotor: Pascal Autissier

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology’s ‘Vulnerable Groups and Inequality’ research project draws on a number of disciplines.

The Leiden LIS Sectoral Income Inequality Dataset, assembled by Chen Wang, Stefan Thewissen and Olaf van Vliet (Version 1.1, March 2014), contains information on multiple indicators of earnings inequality and employment within 9 sectors and 12 subsectors, drawing upon micro data from Luxembourg Income…

This book offers a detailed analysis of social policy in Ecuador, covering its evolution over the past four decades. It examines how social relations and institutional frameworks have influenced concepts of well-being, the implemented policies, and the outcomes achieved.

Provides a cutting-edge comparative political economy analysis of welfare and inequality across ten East Asian countries.

Leiden LIS Budget Incidence Fiscal Redistribution Dataset on Income Inequality (2017), assembled by Jinxian Wang and Koen Caminada (Version 1, November 2017), presents the disentanglement of income inequality and the redistributive effect of social transfers and income taxes in 47 LIS countries for…

Are you thinking about studying History of Inequality and Power? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

The cost-sharing standard (kostendelersnorm) – a regulation affecting recipients of supplementary income for older people, often with a migrant background – may lead to financial and health problems for thousands of people, economists Ernst-Jan de Bruijn and Heike Vethaak have found.

How were (post) colonial migrants included in post-war welfare systems?

In the Netherlands, as elsewhere in the world, many patients who are in a palliative care trajectory prefer not to receive full or explicit medical information. This is more often the case for patients with ethnic or cultural minority backgrounds. As open-information provision is the norm, non-disclosure…

Through a comparative analysis of participation in outdoor recreation in Europe, this project seeks to investigate how social inequalities are embodied.

In our collective journey to bridge social, economic, and cultural inequality in society, we must al play a part, says Wilco van Dijk. Unfortunately, notes Carolien Rieffe, minority groups are often not included in this 'we.' This became a focal point of discussion during the fifth Psychology Connected…

This website showcases Leiden University’s contribution to the SSH Sector Plans.

In his historical analysis of upland societies of the Zomia massif, James Scott (2009) emphasizes how the modern state strives to control and “make taxable” all of its subjects. For Tania Murray Li (2014), the development of neoliberal markets is the primary driver of change, as she shows based on long-term…

How does self-reliance lead to a decrease in collaboration for public goods?

This project investigates ethnographically how patients, their relatives, and healthcare professionals in the Netherlands make decisions about end-of-life care. We study the new dilemmas around what constitutes

On 1 October 2019, Emile Cammeraat defended his thesis 'Economic Effects of Social Protection'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. K.P. Goudswaard and Prof. P.W.C. Koning.

Day-to-day activities are important in the development of social identities, the establishment of social standing, and the communal understanding of societal rules. This perspective is broadly referred to as practice theory and relates to the power of an overarching social structure and the individual…

Kees Waaldijk has worked for many years to map the rights, or lack thereof, of the gay and lesbian community across the world. As he bids farewell to the faculty, those rights are under renewed pressure. How does he reflect on his career?

The main object of study in this thesis is an Arakelov inequalitywhich bounds the degree of an invertible subsheaf of the direct image ofthe pluricanonical relative sheaf of a semistable family of curves.

The project seeks to explore the interplay of valuation and inequalities in science, using the interdisciplinary and planet-critical field of forest research as empirical case. It examines which/whose knowledge is recognised on what grounds, and how social dimensions like gender and geographical location…

Helping people, groups and policymakers navigate the social transitions of our time.

Income inequality in the Netherlands is an upward trend. Leiden University will examine the causes behind this increasing inequality and why income inequality persists. The research has been commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.

At the end of December, the concluding lecture of the Bachelor Honours Class 'Policy and Politics: struggling to combat social inequalities' took place. Students, under the guidance of former minister Jet Bussemaker, tackled the question of what inequality actually is.

The key subject of the Team Economic and Social History is Inequality (at local, national and global levels). We study this from an intersectional perspective: gender, class, ethnicity or race, religion, sexuality, age, ability/disability, citizenship and legal status. We study these categories of power…

Leiden University has become a partner of the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

Criminal law can reinforce social inequality. ‘People at the lower end of society are hit harder by criminal law in a range of different ways’, says Professor Marloes van Noorloos. ‘That has to change.’

On 24 January 2024, Vethaak defended the thesis 'Empirical Analysis of Social Insurance, Work Incentives and Employment Outcomes'. The doctoral research was supervised by Koen Caminada and Pierre Koning.

Leiden University, Department of Economics

Inequality and violence are the two biggest issues in South Africa. What is the underlying cause? Could they be linked to rivalling groups, economic factors, government policy or all of the above? To understand social issues, it is important to study them within their context. The extended case study…

This book offers novel perspectives on the national and international dimensions of the post-war welfare state in Western Europe and North America.

What role did inequality play in the past? On Friday 5 December, Master's students in history presented their answers at a conference they organised themselves.

Social assistance and minimum income benefits are important instruments as a safeguard against low income and poverty. There have been major developments in minimum income benefits both in developed and developing countries over the last decades. Our study collects several empirical studies regarding…

Team Economic and Social History

What is the relation between the experience and the act of exclusion?

A bike tour is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about inequality. However, students of a Master Honours Challenge came up with this and other solutions to tackle local inequalities. Creativity and empathy turned out to be useful ingredients.

Excessive remuneration of top executives often sparks heated debate in the Netherlands. Ministers are summoned to Parliament, where they then tend to wholeheartedly condemn the 'grabbing' going on at the top of the corporate sector. But that’s where it stops. Tackling excessive remuneration seems to…