4.3 Pluralist Society

• Pigeon-holing (hokjesdenken)


  The process of immediately forming an impression or opinion about someone and putting them into a predefined category
• Categorisation


  • Serves a useful purpose by helping the brain understand the world
  • Involves assigning people, objects or situations to predefined categories
• Stereotype


  An exaggerated, predefined impression of a group of people
• Preconceived ideas


  Biased opinions formed about someone without knowing them personally
• Pigeon-holing


  Often leads to prejudice
• Role of socialisation


  • Family, friends, social media and other media contribute to the development of stereotypes and preconceived ideas
  • Young children absorb preconceptions about groups of people from their parents
  • The media can reinforce preconceived ideas, e.g. by highlighting crime rates among asylum seekers
• Bias


  Forming an opinion about someone based solely on the category you assign to them
• Prejudice


  Forming an opinion about someone without knowing them personally
• Discrimination


  Unequal treatment for people based on a feature or characteristic that is not relevant to the situation
• Discrimination in the Netherlands

  • On the job market
  • In education
  • In criminal investigations
  • On the street and on social media
• Discrimination creates and maintains social inequality
• People who face discrimination are more likely to have mental health problems, struggle with negative thoughts about themselves, or start hating the group who discriminates and excludes them
• Racism


  • Categorising people into races and assuming one race is superior to another
  • Hurtful and humiliating statements about or discrimination against people based on their skin colour or ethnic origins
• The idea that there was no racism in the Netherlands was common for a long time, but more and more people are now acknowledging that racism is a societal problem
• Othering


  The process of defining an "us" group that one belongs to, and a "them" group consisting of others
• Polarisation


  When us-them thinking is taken to extremes, emphasising differences and placing groups in opposition
• Examples of polarisation in society

  • Between low-skilled workers and university graduates
  • Between Muslim and non-Muslim
  • Between elite and working-class
• Intensifying polarisation poses a threat to the sense of unity in a society and can lead to violent conflicts between groups, and in extreme cases can even result in civil war
• Social cohesion


  The sense of mutual connection and belonging in a society
• Speaking the same language, sharing the same values and norms, and celebrating national holidays together strengthen the sense of belonging in society
• Discrimination and polarisation are harmful to social cohesion because they divide society into groups
• It is important to oppose discrimination and polarisation to maintain social cohesion