Programme director: Prof. dr. Herman van de Werfhorst

Institutions are central to the understanding of human social behaviour. Social sciences -  sociology, in particular - have studied the emergence of institutions and its effects on social behaviour. The Institutions & Inequalities programme group aims to:

• Describe and explain the evolution of national and international socio-economic and cultural institutions
• Examine and explain the causes and consequences of inequalities within and across countries, especially with a view to the causal role of national and international institutions and policies
• Investigate and explain the consequences that current changes in institutions have on power, inequalities and conflict.

The programme group makes a distinction between emergences and changes of institutions and the effects of institutions.

Focus is on the emergence and distribution of several sorts of institutions, including art markets, cultural products, norms towards the welfare state, social cohesion in networks, educational systems, pension systems and employment relations. Addressed are questions such as: How do societies develop? How have countries come to adopt national-level regulations? How do norms evolve? Has there been convergence across countries due to globalisation, interconnectedness and/or development?

Emphasis is also placed on how changes of national-level institutions concerning childcare, pension, housing, employment relations, media structure and education affect support of the welfare state, care and employment careers of men and women, media consumption patterns, old-age pensions and poverty and educational careers. Furthermore, changes are examined to see how they shape various aspects of social inequality and social interaction in a cross-nationally and historically comparative perspective. Research outcomes include surveys on the distribution of labour and capital income (from work, property, pensions), the distribution of education by social background and ethnicity, working time and housework shared between partners, media and cultural consumption.

The programme group's mission is to conduct sociological research in a historical and comparative perspective, to focus on contemporary society and to investigate social developments transcending the boundaries of the local setting or national society. With a focus less on the local and more on the tension between the national and international, the group cooperates with related disciplines such as political science, demography, economics and law.