Our colleague Ronald van Steden wrote an article in Skepter's summer song about what is playing behind social displeasure. There are negative sentiments in society about roughness, hardening, declining social cohesion, increasing insecurity and economic downturn. What does this mean? How much concern do we have to worry about? And what could we do? Below the article:

Will the Netherlands Grimmiger each time?

The Netherlands is generally a stable and safe country, but it does not always feel that way. There are feelings of displeasure in society about roughening, hardening, declining social cohesion and economic downturn. What does this mean? How much concern do we have to worry about? And what could we do?

The media regularly reports on explosions, shootings, drug crime and an increase in the number of violent crimes. Undermining has become a popular policy term where everything can be covered: from angry farmers who stand with their tractors in front of the province house to networks of organized crime. Or take the rapidly evolving problem of digital crime. Millions are being made from online scams. These are all serious issues. One hundred percent safe society will never be.

At the same time, there is a different story to be told: in our country there are hardly any major disasters with many casualties. And although the shock is always good after any liquidation or fatal abuse, the number of victims of murder and manslaughter is low internationally in 2023. It is also striking that over the last 20 years, the victimisation of burglaries, destruction and vandalism has decreased by 53%. Where does this great attention to safety come from? Why do we feel unheimish?

Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert give an intriguing answer (see also Skipper 36.3, 2023). In a large-scale study they find that every subject, when born, thinks that society is morally deteriorating. Where young people complain that this decline has only started in their time, their parents or grandparents experience that this process has been going on for much longer. Therefore, according to the authors, people are in an illusion: We live in the collective delusion that society is becoming increasingly grim and unsocial. Social unease is of all times.

This last observation is correct. Collective concerns about social decline existed in the Middle Ages. Around the year 1000 there was a fall in Europe about the end of the world and the final judgment. But aren't Mastroianni and Gilbert missing something? Social unease is surrounded by all kinds of perceptions and emotions, but it does come from somewhere. In this way, unease also pertains to the present situation. Zeitgeist. It is likely that historical circumstances will have as good or even greater influence on social displeasure than concerns about calving standards and values. Because despite the fact that our living conditions have improved relatively and the Netherlands has become increasingly safer, something gnaws. These gnawing feelings are not only about worries about steady moral decline, but also about a calving belief in continuous progress. If that belief goes out, there will be pessimism or even fatalism, with all the consequences.

Not fluffy

For years, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has been keeping a close eye on the safety experience of the population. The latest figures show that 35% of the Dutch feel unsafe in general. But what does such a figure actually say? What does it mean that a large group of people signal non-fluis signals? Looking at general trends, it can't be about immediate crime concerns. The CBS calculates that only fifteen percent of the population say they feel unsafe when it comes to their own neighbourhood; Only 2% feel unsafe there. These figures have even shown a positive trend since 2005. But despite the positive overall picture, there remain areas where residents are concerned about persistent crime and criminal networks. There, too, confidence in society and government is often under pressure.

This brings us to a second, deeper layer of security experience that touches on the uncomfortable realization that it might go the wrong way. Our country may be a high-confidence society on a superficial basis, and quite a few people in vulnerable socio-economic positions on average see the future less brightly than the often higher-educated middle class living in greater conditions. In this vulnerable group, public confidence in government and politics is low, especially if they do not hear, see and feel unfairly treated. The Supplements affair and the flawing resolution of the Groningen earthquake damage are acutely on the retina. The Social and Cultural Planning Agency (SCP) reports that a small half (43%) of the population thinks that the government does not listen to citizens enough; Almost 60% believe that politics is insufficient for people like her.

Finally, the bottom layer of existential insecurity and uncertainty. Dark clouds have gathered above the environment, the expiration date of our high prosperity and shifting geopolitical relations. People feel threatened in their existence. This sense of threat has a physical but also a moral and spiritual side. The British-Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman speaks of a liquid modernity in which everything is constantly moving, without any clue. Sustained doubt, confusion and lack of direction are ours. One possible indicator of this is that four out of ten Dutch people aged 12 years or older have to do with depression and anxiety. Young people in particular suffer from such feelings, where social media can intensify this problem. Although smartphones contribute to more contacts, the Trimbos Institute notes that excessive use is associated with an increased risk of experienced loneliness and stress. Screens can affect mental health.

Somberness and resistance

I'm fine, we're in bad shape, says a famous oneliner by Paul Schnabel, former director of the SCP. People are usually quite satisfied with their own lives, but they judge society as a whole negatively. His one-liner echoes in other work by SCP researchers who conclude that this is a global phenomenon. In several Western countries feelings of social displeasure slumber. These feelings stem from a toxic combination of socio-economic concerns, a lack of social continuity, a loss of political ideology and a growing awareness of vulnerability. Think of the rapidly changing geopolitical power relations, political discussions about migrants and refugees, the affordability of our welfare state and alarming climate figures. The future is not only getting better, it is becoming a progressive optimism that has been leading in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Below lies a fear, perhaps partly unconscious, that society and life as we know it now run against their borders. A growing group of people think that neither the Netherlands nor themselves are moving in the right direction. They have the idea of losing control of one's own life and longing for direction in a world that is becoming more unpredictable. This desire for strength and stability is a deeply rooted mental need, almost as strong as desires for security and security. When a fine home, a loving relationship and a permanent job for many people are not (more) self-evident, feelings of gloom and resistance arise, packaged as widely-behaved unease.

Behavioural scientist Frank Gootjes of the University of Groningen adds to these findings that social displeasure and its consequences consist of more than a sum of personal troubles and impotence to do something about it. Pessimistic feelings include concerns about others and a system that has little regard for . . ordinary people . . . . . . . Previously, we were punctual about the Supplements affair and how the government deals with the victims of the earthquake damage in Groningen. In addition, the coronapandemic has contributed to distrust in the national government and in the advice of the RIVM, which led to conspiracy theories, immunity and violent riots. It is therefore not surprising that social displeasure can be related to the desire to change, if necessary by the government and government. Lack of trust in public administration, pessimism about society and a (too) high assessment that urgent issues are not properly resolved provide a fruitful breeding ground for social and political unrest.

It's important.

Sensational reports that crime is spreading or that social cohesion in our country is squandering deserve scepticism. For now, the Netherlands is a stable country that can take a hit. However, it is unwise to regard this situation as a peaceful property. There are great differences in how people think society stands for it. For example, an SCP study shows that 47 percent of people with a VMBO degree have confidence in others, compared to 84 percent with HBO or WO education. Practically trained people also often have the idea that they cannot have sufficient influence on the direction of politics. The same is true of residents of "non-important' areas: government-forgotten urban areas and rural areas. How to prevent large groups of citizens from dropping out? That question isn't easy to answer, but scientists are thinking.

In a recently published conversation between economist Thomas Piketty and philosopher Michael J. Sandel both influential intellectuals point out that a greater degree of equality is crucial to counter discontent and displeasure. Increasing the security of life through investment in education, adjustments to the tax system and schemes within the welfare state make people feel heard and seen that they matter. The creation of places in which a shared life can blossom because people of all kinds of plumage spontaneously run into each other contributes to this feeling. For example, libraries are working through programmes and meetings to promote democratic citizenship in the service of a greater idea of commonality.

Research in Italy shows that the reduction of public services, in addition to the above mentioned library, the bus line, the doctor's post, the school and the police station in smaller municipalities, has contributed to removal between government and citizens, and the emergence of radical right. Apart from a protest against the existing establishment, there is frustration that the state is abandoning its own residents, while there would be disproportionate resources for migrants. A close, benevolent and supportive government is indispensable to the quality of (together) life that people experience. It is an insight that Dutch politicians and policy makers can also put in their pocket.

This essay appeared in Skepter, volume 35, number 2, 2025.